Kamala Harris, the country’s first female vice president, is no stranger to being the first in many rooms. Now that she’s the likely Democratic nominee in 2024, Harris has the chance to make history again.
As a woman of color, and the daughter of two immigrants, Harris, 59, has talked about the responsibility to blaze a trail for others who follow. “My mother had a saying: ‘Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last,’” she said in an interview in 2019. “That’s how I think about those kinds of things.”
Here is a look at the many firsts of Harris’s career and some that might await her if she’s nominated or elected as president.
If Harris is elected as president in November
First female president: The United States has never elected a woman to the White House. Since the first U.S. president was elected in 1789, all 45 have been men.
First Black female president: After his 2008 election, Barack Obama became the first Black president of the United States. Harris — the daughter of two immigrants, a Jamaican man and an Indian woman — lived a proudly African American life growing up in California. She attended civil rights marches in a stroller; was bused with other Black kids to an elementary school in a wealthier White neighborhood; and she worshiped at an African American church. She also attended historically Black Howard University.
First Asian American president: Harris, whose parents met as students at the University of California at Berkeley, would be the first Asian American to become president if she wins. Harris, who along with her sister, Maya, was brought up by her mother after her parents divorced when she was 7, also grew up embracing her Indian culture — and would be the first president of Indian descent. Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a cancer researcher who immigrated to the United States from India.
If Harris wins Democratic nomination
First Black woman: While several women have run for president, Hillary Clinton in 2016 was the only woman to win the nomination of a major political party.
First from a western state: The Democratic Party has never had a presidential nominee from the west, a 2019 analysis from the FiveThirtyEight found. By contrast, Republicans nominated a westerner for president eight times, the report said. The state that produced the most Democratic nominees was New York.
Firsts as vice president
First female vice president: When Harris was sworn in as vice president on Jan. 20, 2021, she became the first woman to hold the role. In her victory speech after the result in November — in which she wore all white as a nod to the suffragists who fought for the right to vote — Harris had said that “while I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”
First Black vice president: Harris told The Washington Post in a previous interview that her African American background “affected everything” about who she is. “Growing up as a Black person in America made me aware of certain things that, maybe if you didn’t grow up Black in America, you wouldn’t be aware of,” she said. For example: “Racism,” she said.
First South Asian vice president: Accepting her nomination as the vice-presidential candidate in August 2020, Harris nodded to her South Asian heritage — referring to her extended family as “chittis,” a Tamil word for aunts. It drew immediate cheers from the community. Food personality and TV host Padma Lakshmi wrote that she had “tears in her eyes” during that moment in Harris’s address. “My heart is so full right now,” Lakshmi added.
First vice president who is a stepmom: Harris has a blended family from her marriage to Douglas Emhoff, and is known as “Momala” to two stepchildren, Ella and Cole. “What I’ve seen is that regardless of political affiliation, stepmoms are thrilled that a woman who is a stepmom and has her family front in her journey got elected to this position,” Beth McDonough, a certified stepparent coach who runs a website focused on stepmom inclusivity, told “Good Morning America” in 2021.
First vice president to have a second gentleman: Harris’s election as vice president propelled her husband, Emhoff, to history as well — as America’s first second gentleman and male vice-presidential spouse. Emhoff, who is now 59, set aside his high-profile career as an entertainment lawyer after Harris assumed office and has spoken candidly about the difficulties of leaving a profession he loved to support her political career. Now, he has the chance to become the first first gentleman of the United States.
Maegan Vazquez contributed to this report.
