Pemilihan presiden 2020
Harris telah dianggap sebagai calon teratas untuk nominasi Demokrat 2020 untuk presiden.[240] Pada Juni 2018, dia mengatakan "tidak menagkal kemungkinan itu".[241] Pada Juli 2018, diumumkan bahwa dia akan menerbitkan memoar, itu adalah tanda kemungkinannya untuk mencalonkan diri sebagai presiden.[242] Pada 21 Januari 2019, Harris secara resmi mengumumkan pencalonannya sebagai presiden Amerika Serikat dalam pemilihan presiden Amerika Serikat 2020.[243] Dalam 24 jam pertama setelah pengumuman pencalonannya, dia memecahkan rekor yang dibuat oleh Bernie Sanders pada 2016 untuk sumbangan terbanyak yang dikumpulkan pada hari setelah pengumuman. Lebih dari 20.000 orang menghadiri acara peluncuran kampanye resminya di kota kelahirannya di Oakland, California, pada 27 Januari 2020, menurut perkiraan polisi.[244]
Selama debat presiden pertama dari Partai Demokrat pada Juni 2019, Harris menegor mantan wakil presiden Joe Biden karena pernyataan "menyakitkan" yang dia buat, dimana Biden berbicara dengan hormat tentang para senator yang menentang upaya integrasi pada 1970-an dan bekerja dengan mereka untuk menentang Bus desegregasi.[245] Dukungan Harris naik antara enam dan sembilan poin dalam jajak pendapat setelah debat itu.[246] Dalam debat kedua di bulan Agustus, Harris dikonfrontasi oleh Biden dan anggota Kongres Tulsi Gabbard atas catatannya sebagai Jaksa Agung.[247] San Jose Mercury News menilai bahwa beberapa tuduhan Gabbard dan Biden ada benarnya, seperti memblokir tes DNA untuk narapidana dengan hukuman mati. Segera setelah itu, dukungan untuknya jatuh dalam jajak pendapat setelah debat itu.[248][249] Selama beberapa bulan berikutnya, jumlah jajak pendapatnya turun ke angka satu digit.[250] Pada saat liberal semakin khawatir tentang ekses sistem peradilan pidana, Harris menghadapi kritik dari para reformis untuk kebijakan yang dia kejar saat dia menjadi jaksa agung California. Misalnya, pada 2014, dia memutuskan untuk membela hukuman mati California di pengadilan.[251]
Sebelum dan selama kampanye kepresidenannya, sebuah organisasi online informal yang menggunakan hashtag #KHive dibentuk untuk mendukung pencalonannya dan membelanya dari serangan rasis dan seksis.[252][252][253][254] Menurut Daily Dot, Joy Reid pertama kali menggunakan istilah tersebut dalam tweetnya pada Agustus 2017 yang mengatakan "@DrJasonJohnson @ZerlinaMaxwell dan saya mengadakan pertemuan dan memutuskannua bawah itu disebut K-Hive."[255]
Pada 3 Desember 2019, Harris menarik diri dari pencalonan Partai Demokrat 2020, dengan alasan kekurangan dana.[256] Pada Maret 2020, Harris mendukung Joe Biden sebagai presiden.[257]
Attorney General of California (2011–2017)
Harris was elected Attorney General of California in 2010, becoming the first woman, African American, and South Asian American to hold the office in the state's history.[56] She took office on January 3, 2011, and was reelected in 2014.[57] She served until resigning on January 3, 2017, to take her seat in the United States Senate.
In 2010, Harris announced her candidacy for attorney general and was endorsed by prominent California Democrats, including U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.[58] She won the Democratic primary and narrowly defeated Republican nominee Steve Cooley in the general election.[59] Her tenure was marked by significant efforts in consumer protection, criminal justice reform, and privacy rights.
In 2014, Harris was reelected, defeating Republican nominee Ronald Gold with 58% of the vote.[57] During her second term, she expanded her focus on consumer protection, securing major settlements against corporations like Quest Diagnostics,[60] JPMorgan Chase,[61] and Corinthian Colleges,[62][63] recovering billions for California consumers. She spearheaded the creation of the Homeowner Bill of Rights to combat aggressive foreclosure practices during the housing crisis, recording multiple nine-figure settlements against mortgage servicers.[64][65] Harris also worked on privacy rights. She collaborated with major tech companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook to ensure that mobile apps disclosed their data-sharing practices.[66][67] She created the Privacy Enforcement and Protection Unit, focusing on cyber privacy and data breaches.[67] California secured settlements with companies like Comcast and Houzz for privacy violations.[68][69]
Harris was instrumental in advancing criminal justice reform. She launched the Division of Recidivism Reduction and Re-Entry and implemented the Back on Track LA program, which provided educational and job training opportunities for nonviolent offenders.[70][71] Despite her focus on reform, Harris faced criticism for defending the state's position in cases involving wrongful convictions[72] and for her office's stance on prison labor.[73][74] She continued to advocate for progressive reforms, including banning the gay panic defense in California courts[75][76] and opposing Proposition 8, the state's same-sex marriage ban.[77][78][79]
U.S. Senator (2017–2021)
After more than 20 years as a U.S. senator from California, Senator Barbara Boxer announced on January 13, 2015, that she would not run for reelection in 2016.[80] Harris announced her candidacy for the Senate seat the next week.[80] She was a top contender from the beginning of her campaign.[81]
The 2016 California Senate election used California's new top-two primary format, where the top two candidates in the primary advance to the general election regardless of party.[81] On February 27, 2016, Harris won 78% of the California Democratic Party vote at the party convention, allowing her campaign to receive financial support from the party.[82] Three months later, Governor Jerry Brown endorsed her.[83] In the June 7 primary, Harris came in first with 40% of the vote and won with pluralities in most counties.[84] Harris faced representative and fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez in the general election.[85]
On July 19, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden endorsed Harris.[86] In the November 2016 election, Harris defeated Sanchez with over 60% of the vote, carrying all but four counties.[87] After her victory, she promised to protect immigrants from the policies of President-elect Donald Trump and announced her intention to remain Attorney General through the end of 2016.[88][89] Harris became the second Black woman and first South Asian American senator in history.[90][91][92]
The Truths We Hold: An American Journey
Wakil presiden (2021–sekarang)
Setelah terpilihnya Joe Biden sebagai Presiden Amerika Serikat pada pemilu 2020, Harris akan menjabat sebagai wakil presiden Amerika Serikat pada 20 Januari 2021.[268] Dia akan menjadi wakil presiden wanita pertama, serta orang kulit berwarna pertama yang memegang jabatan tersebut sejak Charles Curtis, seorang penduduk asli Amerika, yang bertugas di bawah Herbert Hoover dari 1929 hingga 1933. Dia juga akan menjadi orang ketiga dengan keturunan non-Eropa yang diakui untuk mencapai salah satu jabatan tertinggi di cabang eksekutif, setelah Curtis dan mantan Presiden Barack Obama.[269]
Harris mengundurkan diri dari kursi Senatnya pada 18 Januari 2021, dua hari sebelum pelantikannya sebagai Wakil Presiden. Ia kemudian dilantik pada 20 Januari 2021, memegang dua Alkitab pada saat pengambilan sumpah; satu dimiliki oleh Regina Shelton, seseorang yang penting baginya dan kakaknya, Maya Harris, dan Alkitab lain yang dulu dimiliki oleh mantan Hakim Agung Amerika Serikat Thurgood Marshall.
Pengambilan sumpah Kamala Harris dilakukan didepan Hakim Agung Sonia Sotomayor, yang menjadi Hakim Agung wanita pertama yang mengadministrasi pengambilan sumpah sebanyak dua kali setelah ia melakukan hal serupa dengan pengambilan sumpah Joe Biden kala ia masih menjadi Wakil Presiden Barack Obama pada 2013. Dalam pengambilan sumpahnya, ia membacakan pernyataan berikut:
Saya, Kamala Devi Harris, bersumpah dengan sungguh-sungguh bahwa saya akan mendukung dan membela Konstitusi Amerika Serikat dari semua musuh, baik asing maupun domestik; bahwa saya akan memegang teguh kesetiaan dan kesetiaan itu; bahwa saya menerima kewajiban ini dengan sukarela, tanpa ada keraguan atau maksud untuk mengelak; dan bahwa saya akan melaksanakan tugas jabatan yang akan saya emban dengan baik dan setia. [Tuhan, tolonglah saya.]
Tindakan pertamanya sebagai Wakil Presiden adalah melantik penggantinya, Alex Padilla, dan Senator Georgia Raphael Warnock dan Jon Ossoff yang terpilih dalam pemilihan putaran kedua Georgia 2021.[270]
Saat Kamala Harris mulai menjabat, Senat Amerika Serikat terbagi menjadi 50 anggota Partai Demokrat dan 50 anggota Partai Republik.[271] Ini mengartikan bahwa Kamala Harris harus dipanggil ke Senat Amerika Serikat untuk menggunakan wewenangnya untuk memberikan suara penentu sebagai presiden Senat AS. Pada tanggal 5 Februari, Kamala Harris memberikan suara penentu sebanyak dua kali. Pada bulan Februari dan Maret, peran Kamala Harris dalam memberi suara penentu dinilai sangat krusial bagi pengesahan Undang Undang Rencana Penyelamatan Amerika 2021, sebuah kebijakan stimulus ekonomi yang dicanangkan Biden, karena tidak ada Senator Partai Republik yang menyetujui UU tersebut.[272][273] Pada 20 Juli, Kamala Harris memecahkan rekor wakil presiden sebelumnya, Mike Pence dalam memberikan suara penentu pada tahun pertama sebagai wakil presiden[274] pada saat Kamala memberikan suara penentu yang ketujuh pada 6 bulan pertamanya.[275] Ia memberikan 13 suara penentu di Senat AS, memecahkan rekor sebagai wakil presiden pemberi suara penentu terbanyak dalam satu tahun sebagai wakil presiden, mengalahkan Wakil Presiden John Adams yang memberi suara penentunya pada tahun 1790 sebanyak 12 kali.[275][276] Pada 5 Desember, ia kembali memecahkan rekor sebagai wakil presiden dengan suara penentu terbanyak setelah memberikan suara penentu ke-32, mengalahkan Wakil Presiden John Calhoun yang memberi suara penentu sebanyak 31 kali selama 8 tahu menjabat sebagai Wakil Presiden Amerika Serikat.[275][277] Pada 19 November 2024, Kamala menjadi penjabat presiden dari jam 10:10 sampai 11:35 Waktu Timur saat Biden menjalankan operasi kolonoskopi.[278] Ia menjadi wanita pertama dan orang ketiga yang menjabat sebagai presiden sementara dibawah bagian 3 Amendemen Kedua Puluh Lima Konstitusi Amerika Serikat.[279][280]
Sejak awal Desember 2021, peran Kamala Harris dinilai sangat penting dalam keberlangsungan pemerintahan Joe Biden karena tugasnya dalam memberi suara penentu di Senat AS yang terbagi rata dan rumor kuat bahwa Kamala Harris bisa saja menggantikan Joe Biden dalam pemilihan umum 2024 apabila Biden tidak ingin berkontestasi sebagai petahana.[281]
presidential election
Superheroes Are Everywhere
Presidential Campaign
On January 21, 2019, during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day interview on Good Morning America, Harris announced she was running for president in 2020. One of the top Democratic candidates, the California senator joined a field that already included Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in a bid to push President Donald Trump from the White House after one term.
One week after her GMA announcement, Harris formally kicked off her campaign before an estimated 20,000 supporters at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, California. She remained near the top of the Democratic polls over the following weeks, withstanding the brouhaha that ensued when she admitted to smoking marijuana in a February interview and another when an animal rights activist confronted her onstage at a political event in June.
Harris stood out as one of the top performers of the first Democratic primary debate in late June, garnering headlines for taking Joe Biden to task over his history of opposing federal busing for school integration. During the second debate the following month, she found herself a target of attacks, with Biden and the rest criticizing her healthcare plan and aspects of her record as California attorney general.
Her support in the polls slipping by the fall of 2019, Harris sought to thrust herself back into the top tier by calling for the impeachment of Trump over his dealings with Ukraine and a focus on women’s access to reproductive health care. Meanwhile, her campaign staff reportedly bickered over strategy and the chain of command, the dysfunction noted in a resignation letter from the state operations director that became public via The New York Times.
In early December 2019, Harris announced she was ending her once-promising presidential campaign. But months later, she had another chance to make it on the Democratic ticket.
Vice presidential campaign
In May 2019, senior members of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed the idea of a Biden–Harris ticket.[174] In late February 2020, Biden won a landslide victory in the 2020 South Carolina Democratic primary with the endorsement of House whip Jim Clyburn, with more victories on Super Tuesday. In early March, Clyburn suggested Biden choose a black woman as a running mate, saying, "African American women needed to be rewarded for their loyalty".[175] In March, Biden committed to choosing a woman for his running mate.[176]
On April 17, 2020, Harris responded to media speculation and said she "would be honored" to be Biden's running mate.[177] In late May, in relation to the murder of George Floyd and ensuing protests and demonstrations, Biden faced renewed calls to select a black woman as his running mate, highlighting the law enforcement credentials of Harris and Val Demings.[178]
On June 12, The New York Times reported that Harris was emerging as the front-runner to be Biden's running mate, as she was the only African American woman with the political experience typical of vice presidents.[179] On June 26, CNN reported that more than a dozen people close to the Biden search process considered Harris one of Biden's top four contenders, along with Elizabeth Warren, Val Demings, and Keisha Lance Bottoms.[180]
On August 11, 2020, Biden announced he had chosen Harris.[181] She was the first African American, the first Indian American, and the third woman after Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin to be the vice-presidential nominee on a major-party ticket.[182] Harris is also the first resident of the Western United States to appear on the Democratic Party's national ticket.[183]
Harris became the vice president–elect after Biden won the 2020 presidential election.[184]
Vice presidency (2021–present)
Harris was sworn in as vice president on 11:40 a.m. on January 20, 2021, by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.[185] She is the United States' first woman vice president, first African-American vice president, and first Asian-American vice president.[186][187][188][189] Harris is the third person with acknowledged non-European ancestry to become president or vice president.[d]
Her first act as vice president was to swear in three new senators: Alex Padilla (her successor in the Senate) and Georgia senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.[191]
When Harris took office the 117th Congress's Senate was divided 50–50 between Republicans and Democrats;[192] this meant that she was often called upon to exercise her power to cast tie-breaking votes as president of the Senate. Harris cast her first two tie-breaking votes on February 5. In February and March, Harris's tie-breaking votes were required to pass the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package Biden proposed, since no Senate Republicans voted for it.[193][194] On July 20, Harris broke Mike Pence's record for tie-breaking votes in the first year of a vice presidency[195] when she cast the seventh tie-breaking vote in her first six months.[196] She cast 13 tie-breaking votes during her first year in office, the most tie-breaking votes in a single year in U.S. history, surpassing John Adams, who cast 12 in 1790.[196][197] On December 5, 2023, Harris broke the record for the most tie-breaking votes cast by a vice president, casting her 32nd vote, exceeding John C. Calhoun, who cast 31 votes during his nearly eight years in office.[196][198] On November 19, 2021, Harris served as acting president from 10:10 to 11:35 am EST while Biden underwent a colonoscopy.[199] She was the first woman, and the third person overall, to assume the powers and duties of the presidency as acting president of the United States.[200][201][202]
As early as December 2021, Harris was identified as playing a pivotal role in the Biden administration owing to her tie-breaking vote in the evenly divided Senate as well as her being the presumed front-runner in 2024 if Biden did not seek reelection.[203]
On March 24, 2021, Biden assigned Harris to work with Mexico and Northern Triangle nations (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) to stem irregular migration to the Mexico–United States border and address the root causes of migration.[204][205] The Root Causes Strategy (RCS) was the product of this effort.[206] Multiple news organizations at the time described Harris as a "border czar",[207][208][209] though Harris rejected the title and never actually held it.[210][211][212][213][214][excessive citations] Republicans and other critics began using the term "border czar" to tie Harris to the Mexico–United States border crisis, including in a July 2024 House resolution, despite her having no authority over the border itself.[215][216][217][218][219][excessive citations]
Harris conducted her first international trip as vice president in June 2021, visiting Guatemala and Mexico in an attempt to address the root causes of an increase in migration from Central America to the United States.[220] During her visit, in a joint press conference with Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammattei, Harris issued an appeal to potential migrants: "I want to be clear to folks in the region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come."[221] Her work in Central America led to creation of:
Harris met with French president Emmanuel Macron in November 2021 to strengthen ties after the contentious cancellation of a submarine program.[225] Another meeting was held in November 2022 during Macron's visit to the U.S., resulting in an agreement to strengthen U.S.–France space cooperation across civil, commercial, and national security sectors.[226]
In April 2021, Harris said she was the last person in the room before Biden decided to remove all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, adding that Biden had "an extraordinary amount of courage" and "make[s] decisions based on what he truly believes ... is the right thing to do."[227] National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that Biden "insists she be in every core decision-making meeting. She weighs in during those meetings, often providing unique perspectives."[224] Harris assumed a "key diplomatic role" in the Biden administration, particularly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, after which she was dispatched to Germany and Poland to rally support for arming Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia.[228]
In April 2023, Harris visited Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland with South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol and agreed to work to strengthen the space alliance between the U.S. and South Korea. "We renew our commitment to strengthen our cooperation in the next frontier of our expanding alliance, and of course that is space," Harris said at a joint news conference with Yoon.[229]
In November 2023, Harris pledged that the Biden administration would place no conditions on U.S. aid to Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza.[230] In March 2024, she criticized Israel's actions during the Israel–Hamas war, saying, "Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks...This will get the hostages out and get a significant amount of aid in."[231]
