Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) became the first African American to represent California in the United States Senate on January 3, 2017. Born in Oakland, California, Harris graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., before returning to California to attend the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. After earning her juris doctor degree, Harris served as the deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California, before becoming the managing attorney in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and then chief of the Division on Children and Families, where she established California’s first Bureau of Children’s Justice. Harris was the first African American and first woman elected district attorney of San Francisco (2004–2011) and attorney general of California (2011–2016). On November 3, 2020, she became the first woman and the first African American and Asian American elected vice president of the United States, on the ticket with former senator and vice president Joe Biden of Delaware. They were sworn into office on January 20, 2021.(Photo: Senate Historical Office)
