U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) takes a question during a town hall meeting at Canyon Springs HS on March 1, 2019 in North Las Vegas, Nevada.
Harris is campaigning for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) OAKLAND, Calif. - Long before she was a household name and Joe Biden's pick to be the 2020 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee, Kamala Harris was building a career and a legacy from roots that began right here in the Bay Area.
Harris was born in Oakland in 1964 and raised in Berkeley by a family of educated and ambitious academics. Her Indian mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a breast-cancer researcher with a doctorate in endocrinology from UC Berkeley.