Ready to serve
A child of immigrant parents — her father was from Jamaica and her mother from India — Harris grew up in Oakland, California, in an activist household that saw her attend her first rallies in a stroller.
Her focus on rights and justice saw her build an impressive CV, becoming California’s first Black attorney general and the first woman of South Asian heritage elected to the US Senate.
Harris then went up against Biden in the 2020 primaries. In one stinging attack, she criticized him for allegedly opposing the bussing of students to segregated schools.
“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bussed to school every day. And that little girl was me,” she said in a barbed attack on her future boss.
But as his running mate, she consolidated the coalition that helped defeat the incumbent Trump in 2020.
Her transition to the White House, however, proved difficult.
Critics said she was underwhelming and gaffe-prone in a job that has been known to flummox many officeholders.
Struggling to carve out a role, she was tasked by Biden with getting to the roots of the illegal migration problem, but fumbled and then got defensive in response to a question during a visit to the Mexican border.
Unusually high staff turnover fed rumors of discontent in the vice presidential office.
And Republicans relentlessly targeted her as being unfit to take over should the worst happen to America’s oldest-ever president, often resorting to stereotypes her supporters branded as sexist and racist.
Harris told the Wall Street Journal in February: “I am ready to serve. There’s no question about that.”
