Photos: Kamala Harris' political path

Alameda County deputy district attorney Kamala Harris at the Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland, Calif. on March 28, 1997.

The child of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, Harris has said she was inspired to attend law school after joining civil rights protests with her parents.

Kamala Harris, left, with her sister, Maya, and mother, Shyamala, outside their apartment in Berkeley, Calif., in 1970.

Harris meets with supporters as she campaigns for district attorney in San Francisco in 2003.

Harris won her first election in 2003 when she became San Francisco’s district attorney. In that role, she created a reentry program for low-level drug offenders and cracked down on student truancy.

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, Mayor Gavin Newsom, left, and Rev. Cecil Williams help lead a march celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in San Francisco on Jan. 19, 2004.

Harris in 2004. 

California Attorney General Kamala Harris speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., in 2012.

Harris was elected California’s attorney general in 2010, the first woman and Black person to hold the job, and focused on issues including the foreclosure crisis. She declined to defend the state’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage and was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Barack Obama walks with California Attorney General Kamala Harris and California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom after arriving at San Francisco International Airport on April 4, 2012.

On Tuesday, Obama praised his former vice president for selecting Harris as his running mate, saying, “Joe Biden nailed this decision.”

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence member Kamala Harris arrives for a closed-door meeting in in 2017.

After being elected to the Senate in 2016, Harris quickly gained attention for her assertive questioning of Trump administration officials during congressional hearings. 

Harris speaks with an aid as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appears before a Senate hearing about privacy and election meddling in 2018.

Senate Judiciary Committee members, behind from left, Cory Booker, Harris, and Richard Blumenthal talk as Sen. Jeff Flake, not pictured, discusses his concerns about Brett Kavanaugh's nomination for the Supreme Court on Sept. 28, 2018. 

Sen. Kamala Harris waves to the crowd as she formally launches her presidential campaign at a rally in her hometown of Oakland, Calif., on Jan. 27, 2019.

Harris arrives at the Common Man restaurant for lunch while campaigning in Concord, N.H., on Feb. 18, 2019.

Harris poses with audience members following a campaign town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., on Feb. 18, 2019.

Harris meets with civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, during lunch at Sylvia's Restaurant, a Harlem landmark in New York City, on Feb. 21, 2019.

Harris asks a question as Attorney General William Barr testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election on May 1, 2019.

Harris speaks at a forum on wages on April 27, 2019 in Las Vegas.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Harris smile at each other during the Democratic presidential debate in Houston on Sept. 12, 2019.

Joe Biden and Harris shake hands before the start of a Democratic candidates debate in Detroit on July 31, 2019.

Biden selects Harris as his running mate