Making ‘Herstory’: From DA To DC, Kamala Harris’ Amazing Rise Through The Democratic Ranks

Source: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images / Getty

UPDATED: 4:00 p.m. ET, Aug. 22, 2024

Originally published on Jan. 20, 2021

Fewer than three years after being sworn in to become the first woman and first Black and Asian Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris‘ political ascent has shown no signs of a downward trajectory as she prepares to make history yet again as the first woman of color to be the Democratic presidential nominee.

To say it’s been a remarkable rise through the Democratic ranks for Harris is putting it mildly. She has gone from being a district attorney in California to the state’s attorney general to one of the few Black women elected to the U.S. Senate to now, being on the precipice of being elected the nation’s commander in chief, all in a relatively short period of time.

Equally as impressive is how after President Joe Biden decided to drop out of the 2024 race, Harris quickly upended the trajectory of the race to become a near-unanimous frontrunner against Donald Trump.

Let’s take a look back at her career as a Democrat.

Kamala Harris, District Attorney for San Francisco, stands for a portrait in her Hall of Justice office on April 28, 2009, in San Francisco. | Source: San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images / Getty

From the outset of Harris’ rise through the Democratic Party’s ranks, she’s been compared to Barack Obama, and it’s not just because of their shared skin color or mixed ethnic heritage. Former “Today” show host Matt Lauer was just one of the many people who dubbed Harris “the female Obama” more than a decade ago, a comparison that she humbly accepted at the time.

“There are many similar aspects between my and the President’s life,” Harris previously said during her prosecutorial career. “I’m just trying to be attorney general.”

Her inaugural term as California AG did not come without controversy, however.

Harris was firmly behind a statewide anti-truancy law that allowed California officials to prosecute parents when their kids don’t show up to school. She smartly tied crime rates with dropout rates, but the solutions were alarmingly punitive. Championing that policy has dogged her throughout her career. She would later say she regretted the law.

Still, in 2014, Harris’ name was mentioned as a possible U.S. Attorney General replacement after Eric Holder resigned, the first hint that her brilliance would carry her well beyond California.

Two years later, Harris was considered for a potential vice presidential running mate after Hillary Clinton won the Democratic presidential nomination. There was also speculation that she was being considered as a Supreme Court nominee following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

But Harris was firmly ensconced in her own political campaign and ultimately became the second Black woman to ever be elected to the U.S. Senate.

Harris’ political career began more than 30 years ago when she was elected as the Deputy District Attorney of Alameda County, California, from 1990 to 1998. She is also the first Black and Indian woman to be attorney general in California. Notably, she was endorsed by then-Vice President Biden, the man who would pick her to be his own vice president — an office that put her in the unique position to become the Democratic presidential nominee this year.

“Growing up, I watched my parents marching, shouting and fighting for justice,” Harris told HelloBeautiful in 2016. “Their participation in the civil rights movement inspired me to pursue a career as a prosecutor, speaking up for and defending the voiceless and vulnerable: children, victims of crimes, seniors and immigrants.”

She added: “In my work as California’s Attorney General, I’ve continued that commitment to equality and social justice, rejecting false choices and embracing real solutions that strengthen our communities and improve public safety.”

Keep reading to revisit some of the memorable moments from Harris’ illustrious legal and political careers that clearly still have an upward trajectory.

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