Kamala Devi Harris (/ˈkɑːmələ/ KAH-mə-lə; born October 20, 1964) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States Senator for California since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 32nd Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017 and as DA of San Francisco. Born in Oakland, California, Harris is a graduate of Howard University and University of California, Hastings College of the Law. In the 1990s, Harris worked in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and the City Attorney of San Francisco's office. In 2004, Harris was elected District Attorney of San Francisco. Harris was narrowly elected as California's Attorney General in 2010 and reelected in 2014 by a wide margin. On November 8, 2016, she defeated Loretta Sanchez in the 2016 Senate election to succeed outgoing Senator Barbara Boxer, becoming California's third female U.S. Senator and the first of Indian and Jamaican descent.
Harris is married to California attorney Douglas Emhoff, who was at one time partner-in-charge at Venable LLP's Los Angeles office. They married on August 22, 2014, in Santa Barbara, California. Harris's sister is Maya Harris, MSNBC political analyst, and her brother-in-law is Tony West, General Counsel of Uber and a former U.S. Justice Department senior official. Harris has two stepchildren, one in college and one in high school. In January 2019 Harris released a memoir, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey.
