California Sen. Kamala Harris, a Democrat, was thrust into the national spotlight during the Senate Intelligence Committee's hearings on Russia and the Trump campaign. The former California attorney general has a long history of public service and she doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon. In fact, she's already generating buzz as a potential future presidential candidate.
Here's what you need to know about the woman who is pressing hard for answers in the Senate's investigation into Russia's connection to the Trump campaign.
1. She is the second black woman and first Indian woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
When Harris won a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2016, it marked a historic moment: She became the second black woman to be elected to the Senate; the first was Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, who was elected in 1992 and served one term. She also became the first Indian woman elected to the Senate.
Harris's father is Jamaican and her mother is Indian. Her name (which is pronounced "comma-la"), means "lotus flower" in Sanskrit. Harris rarely discusses her personal experiences growing up biracial. "I don't feel compelled to sing long ballads about my experiences with injustice," she has said.
She did open up about her upbringing during a conversation with the Los Angeles Times, however. "My Indian mother knew she was raising two black daughters, but that's not to the exclusion of who I am in terms of my Indian heritage," she said. "I grew up going to a black Baptist Church and a Hindu temple."
She did face some discrimination when she visited her father in Palo Alto as a child (her parents divorced when she was 5). "The neighbors' kids were not allowed to play with us because we were black," she told the Times. "We'd say, 'Why can't we play together?' 'My parents — we can't play with you.' In Palo Alto. The home of Google."
She's also dealt with racism as an adult. She says she's been called derogatory names many times and, while she doesn't discuss them often, her experiences are an important part of her and her politics. "I don't wear my experiences on my sleeve," she told the newspaper. "But my experiences do inform my perspective on the work I do, and on what I believe is possible."
Harris credits her mother with preparing her to break down barriers. "My mother had a saying ― 'you may be the first to do many things, make sure you aren’t the last,'" Harris told CQ Roll Call. "We need to work to ensure the leaders reflect the people they are supposed to represent, and until we achieve that full representation, I think we should understand we are falling short of the ideals of this country."
2. She's not the only member of her family in politics.
Harris's parents, who met at Berkeley, were active in the civil rights movement. "We grew up always being told that you have a responsibility to serve," Harris told NBC News of her upbringing.
Harris's younger sister, Maya Harris, has also taken political turns in her career. She worked for Hillary Clinton's campaign as an attorney and senior policy adviser.
While Harris's husband, Douglas Emhoff, isn't involved in politics, he is a fellow lawyer. Emhoff is currently the managing West Coast director for Venable LLP in Los Angeles. He did recently pass the bar in Washington, D.C., however, indicating that he might plan to move with his wife in the future.
Harris and Emhoff married in 2014, and she is a stepmom to his two children from a previous marriage, Cole and Ella. She is also godmother to her close friend, Chrisette Hudlin's, daughter, Helena.
3. She has an impressive legal background.
After graduating from Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C., Harris attended the University of California's Hastings College of the Law. Her first job after graduation was as deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California.
In 2003, she was elected as the first female district attorney of San Francisco. In 2011, after two terms as DA in San Francisco, she went on to serve as California's attorney general.
As district attorney, she faced controversy when she refused to seek the death penalty against a man who killed a police officer. She also launched San Francisco's “Back on Track” program, which sought to reduce recidivism by "offering nonviolent, low-level drug trafficking defendants job training and other life skills education as an alternative to jail," the Los Angeles Times reported.
4. She made history as California's attorney general.
Harris was both the first woman and the first person of color in the position in California. As AG, Harris helped broker a multi-state settlement that brought billions in mortgage relief to California homeowners.
Other highlights from her time as attorney general include leading a suit against Corinthian Colleges for defrauding students in her state, and launching the California Department of Justice's “Open Justice” website to increase law enforcement transparency and public access to information about in-custody deaths.
5. She took a big stand for marriage equality.
One of Harris's most significant moves as attorney general of California came when she took a stand for marriage equality and helped preserve same-sex marriage rights in the state prior to the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015. She, along with Gov. Jerry Brown, stood against 2008's Proposition 8, a ballot measure banning gay marriage, which was approved by California voters.
When a federal court struck down the controversial proposition, Harris refused to defend it on the grounds that it was unconstitutional and Brown joined her in refusing to appeal the ruling.
“I declined to defend Proposition 8 because it violates the Constitution,” Harris said. “The Supreme Court has described marriage as a fundamental right 14 times since 1888. The time has come for this right to be afforded to every citizen.”
As a result of Harris and Brown's decision not to defend the measure, the appeal was dismissed on technical grounds, effectively removing the same-sex marriage ban in California.
6. She had high-profile endorsements during her campaign.
Harris's Senate campaign was obviously a success but it's not surprising. She was endorsed by a long list of high-profile Democrats, including Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
She ran against fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez, who has served for 20 years in the House of Representatives. Had Sanchez won, she would have been the first Latina elected to the U.S. Senate. Harris won the election, with the Associated Press calling the race in her favor just minutes after the polls closed. Early returns had Harris winning by more than 1.3 million votes.
After her win, Harris immediately started looking to the future and how she could continue to inspire voters in her new role. “Whatever the results of the presidential election tonight, we know that we have a task in front of us. We know the stakes are high,” Harris said on election night. “When we have been attacked and when our ideals and fundamental ideals are being attacked, do we retreat or do we fight? I say we fight!”
7. She's gaining national attention for her role in the Senate Intelligence Committee's hearings.
Though Harris is just beginning her first term in the U.S. Senate, Harris has already made an impact. She's a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and has played an active role in the Senate's hearings regarding Russia and the Trump administration.
She's been dogged in her questioning of high-profile figures like Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and, although she's just putting the skills she honed as a prosecutor to good use, Harris has been interrupted and criticized repeatedly by her Republican colleagues.
During both interrogations, Sen. John McCain of Arizona interrupted Harris's questioning and Senate intelligence chairman Richard Burr directed her to let the men answer her questions. This might seem reasonable on its surface but because Harris was working on a strict time limit in both instances, her persistence was justified as she tried to get real answers to her questions.
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden came to Harris's defense after the hearing, pointing out that he wasn't interrupted during his line questioning.
Wyden wasn't the only person to notice Harris received different treatment than her male colleagues.
Sessions said Harris's examination style made him "nervous." After the hearing, former Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller accused Harris of being "hysterical."
Speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper, Miller said Sessions "knocked away some of the hysteria from Kamala Harris and some of the Democrats who wanted to make this a big partisan show." CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers came to Harris's defense after comments, asking, "How was Sen. Kamala Harris hysterical?"
All of the attention has only helped Harris rise to greater prominence on the national stage.
8. She's already being discussed as a potential presidential candidate.
Before she ran for her Senate seat, Harris was already reportedly being considered as a candidate to step onto the national stage. In February 2016, there was speculation that she was on Obama's short list of potential Supreme Court nominees, and last summer, she was discussed as a possible running mate for Hillary Clinton before Tim Kaine secured the role.
Now, Harris is generating early buzz a potential contender for the Democratic ticket in 2020. As the Huffington Post notes, she's been frequently compared to Obama, who ran for president during his first term as a senator.
While Harris says she's not thinking about a run in 2020 yet, many consider her to be a strong candidate for the Democratic Party.
“I’m four months into the Senate and we’ve got a lot of work to do,” she said recently when the topic came up. “I just got back from Iraq, from Baghdad, and from looking at one of the largest refugee camps in the world with 80,000 Syrian refugees. Those are the issues I will focus on.”
