[custom_adv] This January 1970 photo Kamala, left, with her sister, Maya, and mother, Shyamala, outside their apartment in Berkeley, Calif., after her parents' separation. [custom_adv] In this undated photo, Donald Harris holds his daughter, Kamala. Kamala Devi Harris born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the junior United States senator from California since 2017. She is the presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee in the 2020 election. [custom_adv] This September 1966 photo provided by the Kamala Harris campaign shows her during a family visit to the Harlem neighborhood of New York. [custom_adv] Kamala Harris as a child at her mother's lab in Berkeley, California. (Kamala Harris campaign via AP) [custom_adv] This November 1982 photo shows Kamala, right, with Gwen Whitfield at an anti-apartheid protest during her freshman year at Howard University in Washington. [custom_adv] She defeated Loretta Sanchez in the 2016 Senate election to become the second African-American woman and the first South Asian American to serve in the United States Senate. [custom_adv] Born to a Jamaican father and Indian mother, she often speaks of her deep bond with her late mother, whom she has called her single biggest influence. In pic: Kamala Harris with her mother, Shyamala, at a Chinese New Year parade in 2007. (Kamala Harris campaign via AP) [custom_adv] Born in Oakland, California, Harris is a graduate of Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She began her career in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, before being recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and later the City Attorney of San Francisco's office. In 2003, she was elected district attorney of San Francisco. She was elected attorney general of California in 2010, and re-elected in 2014. [custom_adv] As a senator, she has supported healthcare reform, federal descheduling of cannabis, a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, the DREAM Act, a ban on assault weapons, and progressive tax reform. She gained a national profile for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings.