Check out the background, Florida ties and potential VP picks

Before becoming vice president, Kamala Harris served as a California senator and the state’s attorney general.

Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be the leading candidate to replace President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s nominee in the upcoming general election.

Shortly after President Biden announced Sunday that he would withdraw his candidacy, Harris released a statement indicating that she would run for the Democratic nomination for president.

“On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as president of the United States and for his decades of service to our country,” Harris said in an X post Sunday. “I am honored to have the president’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.”

Who is Kamala Harris?

Kamala Devi Harris, 59, is a former U.S. Senator from California and the state’s attorney general. When she was elected alongside Joe Biden in 2020, she made history as the nation’s first female, Black, and Asian American vice president.

She was born in Oakland, California on October 20, 1964. She graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

She is married to New York attorney Douglas Emhoff and has two stepchildren, Cole and Ella.

How do you pronounce the name Kamala Harris?

Kamala Harris’ first name is pronounced “COM-mah-lah,” with the emphasis on the first syllable. It should sound like “comma-la” when pronounced correctly. According to Harris herself, her name is of Sanskrit origin and means lotus.

What nationality is Vice President Kamala Harris?

Harris is a natural-born American citizen, the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father.

According to USA TODAY, she worked to appeal to black leaders and voters through talks at barbershops and historically black colleges and universities. She attended Howard University, an HBCU, and was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, which rallied behind her and showed up at her rallies.

Was Kamala Harris a Cop? See Her History Before She Became VP

No, Kamala Harris has never officially been a police officer. However, she has previously referred to herself as a “top cop.” Before becoming the country’s vice president and a senator from California, Harris worked in the Bay Area as a district attorney in Alameda County, California, and later as the district attorney of San Francisco in 2004.

Harris later served as California’s attorney general from 2011 to 2017. According to CBS News, some of Harris’s major accomplishments include reaching a multibillion-dollar settlement with five U.S. banks over flawed mortgage foreclosure practices, implementing a statewide body camera policy, and entering into negotiations with fossil fuel companies.

Harris served as California’s Senate representative from 2017 to 2021.

What is Harris’ approval rating?

According to FiveThirtyEight, a polling website, Harris’s average approval rating as of Monday, July 22, was 38.6 percent, while her disapproval rating was 50.4 percent.

What Ties Does Kamala Harris Have to Florida? See DeSantis’ Comments on Biden’s Withdrawal

While the current vice president has no direct ties to the Sunshine State, she has campaigned here in recent years and recently visited to condemn the policies of Governor Ron DeSantis.

She has visited Jacksonville three times for events highlighting a major pandemic relief bill, protesting Florida’s teaching of Black history and condemning Florida’s tightening restrictions on abortion.

View Harris’ stops: Kamala Harris has visited Jacksonville three times since becoming vice president

During her most recent visit in May of this year, Harris spoke out against Florida’s six-week abortion ban just hours after it went into effect, drawing connections between Florida and other state bans and former President Donald Trump.

“This is what a second Trump term looks like: more bans, more suffering, less freedom,” Harris said during her May 1 campaign speech at the Prime Osborn Convention Center. “But we will not let that happen.”

Following Harris’ announcement, DeSantis released a statement on X, saying Harris “was complicit in a massive cover-up to hide and deny the fact that Joe Biden was unable to perform his duties.”

‘It’s Kammencing’: See social media memes about Harris

If you’ve been on social media in the past few weeks, you may have heard repetitions of the quote, “Do you think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of everything you live in and everything that came before you.”

If you think that line comes from a classic novel or a great philosopher, think again: it was Harris. And users are obsessed with it. Ever since she announced her intention to seek the Democratic nomination, the internet has been flooded with memes.

Users also created memes mocking the Biden-Harris campaign’s “Joever” joke and how they made it onto the news via X’s “PopCrave.” Even more observant users noted that Harris hasn’t been letting out her usual laugh in interviews and press conferences, and is instead “focused.”

Who has supported Kamala Harris for president so far?

“Today, I want to give my full support and endorsement to Kamala to be our party’s nominee this year,” Biden said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “Democrats — it’s time to come together and defeat Trump. Let’s do this.”

Along with Biden, here are which politicians and organizations have supported Harris, as of Monday, July 22: