Kamala Harris was born to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father who migrated to the United States to study.

She was the first person of South Asian descent to contest the US presidential election, and was given just four months to prepare for elections to become the first female president of the United States.

It is safe to say that all odds were against her.

A professor of economics at Stanford University, Kamala was selected by the democrats in less than an hour after US president Joe Biden pulled out of the race for his second term.

A decision not much of a shock as concerns regarding Biden’s mental acuity and ability piled up after the US president faltered in a debate against Republican presidential nominee and former US president, Donald Trump.

Biden, who said picking Kamala as his VP in 2020 was the “best decision” he has made, offered his “full support and endorsement” for her as the Democrat candidate to go against Trump.

“Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this,” Biden had said.

Who is Kamala

Kamala was born on October 20 in Oakland, California.

According to The New York Times, the couple met at the University of California at Berkeley in the fall of 1962.

Her mother, then Shyamala Gopalan, was attending a lecture by a Jamaican PhD student, Donald Harris, who spoke about the British colonial power in Jamaica.

The lecture was so powerful, it prompted Gopalan to speak to Donald after his speech.

“At a subsequent meeting, we talked again, and at the one after that. The rest is now history.” Shyamala said according to The New York Times.

Kamala was brought up by her mother from the age of seven after Gopalan filed for divorce in 1972 and settled in Oakland, California.

“My mother would look at me and she’d say, ’Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last,” Kamala said while quoting her mother.

Her parents, who had done extensive work in the field of academia, were an active part of the civil rights movement.

Kamala herself went on to study at Howard University — a predominantly black college — where she completed her BA in 1986 and subsequently completed her JD (Juris Doctor) from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1989.

She was admitted to the California Bar in 1990.

Kamala then served as the deputy district attorney for Alameda County in California from 1990. She was asked to head the career criminal division by the then-district attorney Terence Hallinan in February 1998.

She then contested and won the district attorney of San Francisco and was subsequently elected unopposed in 2007.

In 2010, Kamala became the first woman and the first Black American to be elected as the attorney general of California.

And just like her time as the district attorney, Kamala went on to serve a double term as the attorney general when she was re-elected in 2014. She served in the position until she was elected as a Senator in 2017, becoming the second black woman and the first South Asian American senator.

After getting endorsed by both Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Kamala defeated Loretta Sanchez with over 60pc votes for the Senate seat. She vowed to protect immigrants — both legal and those who entered the country illegally — by doing everything in her power, calling then-president Trump’s demands for mass deportations and a giant border wall as “absolutely unrealistic.”

“This issue of how we are treating our immigrants, and in particular our undocumented immigrants, is one of the most critical issues facing our country,” Kamala said according to the LA Times.

She became a nominee for president in 2020, arguing that it was time for her to fight against what she viewed as injustices of the past two years of the Trump presidency. However, she backed down from the position citing a shortage of funds.

“My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue,” Kamala had said on Medium.

According to the Washington Post, she endorsed President Biden as her candidate for the elections.

The then-Democratic presidential candidate Biden named Kamala as his running mate who became the first black woman and South Asian American to take over the role.

Kamala in polls

The pair have recently swapped places repeatedly in the recent election polls, however, Trump had over time gained ground on Kamala.

According to Reuters, Kamala has led Trump in everIpsos poll of registered voters since she entered the race in July, but, her lead has steadily shrunk since late September.

According to an Economist/YouGov poll released on Wednesday, 47 per cent of registered voters say they will or already have voted for Democratic candidate Kamala, while 46pc say the same of Republican candidate Trump, Anadolu Agency reported.

Reuter/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed Kamala was ahead by a single percentage point over the Republicans, 44pc to 43pc.

According to a CBS poll, the choice for president for likely voters was 50pc and 49pc between Kamala and Trump, respectively.

In the swing states, according to the poll, the two nominees were divided at 50pc.

The poll also showed that 55pc women opted for Kamala as their president whereas 54pc men chose the former president as their pick.

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Taxes

Kamala wants to raise tax rates on American households earning more than $400,000 a year, but extend Trump’s expiring 2017 tax cuts below that threshold when they expire in 2025. She wants to increase the Child Tax Credit to $3,600 per child per year with a $6,000 bonus for newborns, eliminate taxes on tips and offer a $25,000 credit for first-time homebuyers.

Kamala has proposed raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% currently to help cut future deficits, echoing President Joe Biden, but a lower tax rate on capital gains for those who earn over $1 million a year.

Had she won the elections, Kamala was expected to maintain tariffs imposed by Trump and maintained by Biden, including on steel and aluminium as well as Chinese imports from cars to toys. While in the Senate, she was one of just a few senators in 2020 to oppose the successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada, citing a lack of environmental protections.

Kamala has proposed banning “price gouging” of groceries and other goods, echoing state laws that bar profiteering in emergencies. She also proposing $25,000 in down payment assistance for homebuyers and tax incentives for developers who build more affordable housing.

She has proposed having the Medicare healthcare program for the elderly pay for home health aides, easing burdens on family budgets.

Abortion

Kamala pledged to sign legislation into law codifying safe access to abortion after the US Supreme Court in 2022 struck down its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized the procedure nationwide. Because there are not enough votes in the divided Congress to support such legislation, she has said she backs ending a procedural tool that requires a supermajority in the Senate to pass the legislation.

Kamala opposes a federal ban on abortion and has made promoting women’s reproductive rights a key plank of her campaign. As vice president, Kamala has led the charge for reproductive rights within the Biden administration.

Climate

Kamala was expected to continue the push led by President Joe Biden to transition the US economy away from fossil fuels with tax breaks and other incentives. She often cites a law called the Inflation Reduction Act, which provided billions of dollars in tax credits to help consumers buy electric vehicles and companies produce renewable energy, as the type of policy she would havepursued.

Kamala was expected to follow President Joe Biden’s approach, recognizing the vital role fossil fuels play in the current economy while trying to push the United States in a greener direction. She has reversed her earlier position of supporting bans on fracking on public lands.

Immigration

Kamala called for an “orderly and humane pathway to earned citizenship for hardworking people” during a Spanish-language town hall-style event that aired on Univision in October. She backs a bipartisan Senate bill that would provide funding for more US border agents, immigration judges and asylum officers.

Kamala supports toughening existing restrictions imposed under President Joe Biden that bar most migrants caught crossing the US-Mexico border illegally from receiving asylum. Biden implemented sweeping asylum restrictions in June, contributing to a sharp drop in illegal border crossings.

Foreign policy

Kamala backs continued US aid to Ukraine as it battles Russia’s invasion. She helped Biden rally allies in Europe to support Ukraine, including organizing sanctions on Russian exports and officials and has met seven times with Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelenskiy. She has called suggestions that Ukraine give up territory to secure peace “proposals for surrender.”

Kamala, like President Joe Biden, has offered unwavering support for Israel’s right to defend itself after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants. But Kamala has been increasingly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his failure to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Kamala has expressed more empathy for the Palestinian people but has not offered any substantive change in policy from Biden.

Kamala is part of a US administration that has worked to strengthen the NATO alliance and presided over its expansion in response to Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Like President Joe Biden, she supports the central defence cooperation integral to the alliance and has criticised Trump for inviting Russia to attack allies who did not pay their fair share in NATO.

Header Image: Democratic presidential candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a presidential election campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia, US July 30, 2024. — Reuters