Chronicled: Who Is Kamala Harris?
By San Francisco Chronicle
She was raised in Berkeley by civil rights activists and became politically active during anti-Apartheid protests at Howard University. Then she turned a career as a prosecutor into being one of the most progressive members of the Senate. She was the first Black woman and first South Asian person on a major-party presidential ticket, and is the first to be elected vice president. But who is she? Cop or progressive? Berkeley radical or Beltway insider? A six-part series on the making of a candidate — now a vice president — by reporters Joe Garofoli and Tal Kopan of the San Francisco Chronicle, which has been covering Harris from the beginning.
Latest episode
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Bonus: Who Is Vice President Kamala Harris?
On the eve of her inauguration as vice president — one who'll be the tie-breaking vote in a 50-50 Senate — Joe Garofoli and Tal Kopan talk about what to expect from Harris and how her personal history will influence her. -
Episode 1: The Top Cop
Kamala Harris starts out as an assistant D.A. in Alameda County and rises through the ranks of prosecutors to become, in her words, “the top cop” — San Francisco district attorney, then California attorney general. Reported by Joe Garofoli and Tal Ko… -
Episode 2: Bigger Job, Bigger Fights
As attorney general, Kamala Harris takes on Wall Street and wins. It’s part of what she says is her career-long fight “for the people.” But there are times when Harris faces Wall Street and she's the one who blinks, and critics say her law enforcemen… -
Episode 3: That Little Girl Was Me
Who is Kamala Harris? Where did she come from? What shaped her worldview, her political stances and her career choices? A look at her childhood in Berkeley in the ’60s and ’70s as the daughter of immigrant activists who grows up in a hotbed of the Fr… -
Episode 4: Why a Prosecutor?
Following in the footsteps of one of her heroes, Thurgood Marshall, Kamala Harris attends historically Black Howard University and joins one of the “Divine Nine” fraternities and sororities, Alpha Kappa Alpha. She gets involved in politics, forges li… -
Episode 5: That Little Girl From Berkeley Goes to Washington
Kamala Harris is elected to the Senate the same night that Donald Trump is elected president. The victory speech she’d planned suddenly becomes useless. Instead, she pledges to fight, and quickly becomes one of the most consistently progressive voice… -
Episode 6: I'm Speaking
After a failed presidential campaign during which she clashed with Democratic front-runner Joe Biden, Kamala Harris returns to Washington and soon becomes a front-runner herself as the most likely choice to become Biden’s running mate. He invites her… -
Chronicled: Who Is Kamala Harris? Trailer
Is she a progressive or a cop? A Berkeley radical or a Beltway insider? In this biographical series, San Francisco Chronicle reporters Joe Garofoli and Tal Kopan tell the story of the life and career of Kamala Harris.