We hear almost continual complaints about Kamala Harris from Republicans – I suspect it’s because they fear her. Republicans often assassinate the character of political figures they know to be formidable. Harris came to the Vice-Presidency with significant credentials and skills gained as a public prosecutor and a Democratic Senator from California. Under President Joe Biden, this American politician and lawyer is the country’s 49th vice president. She is the first African American and Asian-American vice president, the first female vice president, and the highest-ranking female official in American history. She is a Democrat who served as California’s attorney general from 2011 to 2017 and as the state’s senator from 2017 to 2021.
On January 20, 2021, Kamala Harris took over as vice president of the United States after Joe Biden was elected US president in the 2020 election. She is the first female vice president of the United States, the highest-ranking female elected official in American history, and the first vice president to be Asian-American and African-American. Her predecessor, Charles Curtis, was a Native American and member of the Kaw Nation who held the position under Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933. She is also the second person of color to hold the position. After Curtis and former President Obama, she is the third person of recognized non-European heritage to hold one of the top positions in the executive branch.
Two days before her inauguration as vice president, on January 18, 2021, Harris resigned from the Senate. Her first action as vice president was to swear in Georgia senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who were chosen in the runoff elections for Georgia in 2021, and Alex Padilla as her replacement.
When Harris assumed office on January 20, 2021, the Senate of the 117th Congress was split 50–50 between Republicans and Democrats. As a result, Harris regularly had to use her authority as Senate President to cast votes that broke ties. On February 5, 2021, Harris cast her first two votes to break ties. Since no Republicans in the Senate supported the Biden stimulus package, Harris’ tie-breaking votes in February and March were essential to its passage. Mike Pence’s record for the most tie-breaking votes in a vice-presidential year was broken by Harris on July 20, 2021, when she cast the seventh tie-breaking vote in her first six months of office and 13 tie-breaking votes in her first year of office, the most in a single year in US history, surpassing John Adams’ 12 votes in 1790. By her 32nd vote on December 5, 2023, Harris surpassed John C. Calhoun, who cast 31 votes in his roughly eight years as vice president, in less than half the time. This set the record for the most tie-breaking votes cast by a vice president.
Harris stated in April 2021 that she was the final person present in the room when Biden decided to withdraw all American forces from Afghanistan. She also said the president possesses “an extraordinary amount of courage” and “make(s) decisions based on what he truly believes is the right thing to do. ” Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor, stated that Biden “demands she be in every core decision-making meeting.” She contributes to those discussions, frequently offering fresh viewpoints.
Biden assigned Harris the duty of lowering the number of adult asylum claimants and unaccompanied youngsters on March 24, 2021. In addition, she oversees organizing talks with El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. In June 2021, Harris traveled abroad for the first time as vice president, stopping in Guatemala and Mexico to address the underlying issues causing a rise in Central American migration to the United States. “I want to be clear to folks in the region thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come, ” Harris said during her visit at a joint press conference with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei. Her work in Central America established women’s empowerment programs, investment funds for businesses and housing, and task forces against corruption and human trafficking.
Following abandoning a submarine program, Harris met with French President Emmanuel Macron in November 2021 to deepen bilateral relations.
Harris has had among the lowest approval ratings of any vice president in history while serving in office.
On November 19, 2021, Harris served as acting president from 10:10 to 11:35 am EST, while President Biden underwent a colonoscopy. She became the first woman, and the third person overall, to assume the powers and duties of the US presidency under Section 3 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment.
During Harris’s tenure in office, there has been a significant amount of staff turnover, including the exits of her main speechwriter, press secretary, deputy press secretary, communications director, and chief of staff. According to an unnamed source, they resigned because they and other employees “often feel mistreated” by senior staff members. “Symone Sanders, senior advisor and chief spokesperson for Harris, pushed back against the complaints” and defended their approach to management, citing opportunities for African American women. In December 2021, Sanders resigned from the role.