By Allyn Tucker

Boston University News Service

After President Joe Biden announced the end of his 2024 presidential campaign on July 21, his statement was followed by an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. After her initial nomination, Harris became the first woman, African American and South Asian person to serve as vice president of the United States.

The endorsement of Harris comes as no surprise after the two politicians’ years as a partnership, but voters who haven’t kept up with the turmoil within the Democratic Party will be taking a fresh look at Harris’ credentials and experience. Now, four years after Biden first announced his running mate, here’s some history that supports why Biden chose to endorse Harris to run for the 47th president of the United States.

Harris graduated from the (formerly) Hastings College of Law at the University of California-San Francisco in 1989. Early in her career, Harris served in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and in 2003, she became a district attorney in San Francisco. After serving as district attorney, she began her six-year term as California’s 32nd attorney general in 2011. Harris was the first woman, African American, and South Asian American to serve as attorney general in California, the nation’s most populous state.

In 2016, Harris was elected to represent California in the U.S. Senate, becoming the second Black woman and the first South Asian woman to hold the role. Although she was largely in the minority party during her Senate tenure, she used her voice to make her views clear.

Harris was largely outspoken in her support for the DREAM Act, which provided a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, and for other social justice causes. She was also a strong proponent of passing laws that made lynching a federal crime and supported police reforms.

A former prosecutor, Harris also used her experience to ask questions during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee and now Justice Brett Kavanaugh. She was known among her Senate colleagues as an active member of the committees she served on, including Intelligence and Judiciary and Homeland Security.

During her time as Vice President of the United States, Harris continued to make her voice heard in both the White House and the Senate as the deciding vote. Her votes in the Senate secured passage of many important issues, including emergency relief during the COVID-19 pandemic and the nomination of Chief Justice Ketanji Brown Jakson. Harris also vocally supported the fight for reproductive freedom, launching a nationwide tour to promote women’s right to choose and fighting back against the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

After serving as vice president for three and a half years, Harris is now endorsing President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election, against the Republican Party nominee, former President Donald Trump.