Adorable Throwback Pictures Of Kamala Harris As A Kid
Long before she was district attorney of San Francisco, vice president of the U.S., or a presidential candidate in her own right, Kamala Harris was just a girl growing up in northern California (among a string of other places). Speaking to NPR in 2024, one of Kamala's childhood friends even opened up about what the politician was like as a kid. "She was very proud of it. ... her Indian heritage, her family, her name. And she'd always correct people on how to pronounce her name," the friend, Carole Porter, shared. Kamala is of both Black and South Asian descent, and Porter explained how both sides of the future VP's identity were supported by the people around her.
While Kamala has a bit of a strained relationship with her father, Dr. Donald J. Harris, she's made no secret that she shared a close relationship with her late mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan Harris. And that bond is especially clear in some adorable throwback photos of Kamala as a kid.
Kamala shared one such photo featuring her toddler-aged self alongside Shyamala to Facebook in honor of Women's History Month on March 1, 2020 — about eight months before she became the VP-elect. In the picture, Shyamala is holding up young Kamala, while the future California attorney general is smiling ear-to-ear. "My mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, was a force of nature and the greatest source of inspiration in my life," Kamala wrote in the post's caption, adding, "She taught my sister Maya and me the importance of hard work and to believe in our power to right what is wrong. There's no one I'd rather honor this first day of Women's History Month."
How Kamala Harris' upbringing informed her presidential campaign
By the summer of 2024, then-President Joe Biden had decided to back out of his re-election bid, with then-Vice President Kamala Harris taking his place at the top of the Democratic ticket heading into that year's general election. As part of her campaign, Kamala once again took to social media to reminisce about her humble beginnings being raised primarily by her mother, and how that origin story informed her proposed economic policies.
On X in late September 2024, less than two months before Election Day, Kamala shared another throwback photo with Dr. Shyamala Gopalan Harris, which seemed to be taken roughly around the same time as the one Kamala shared on Facebook four years prior. Same as in that other picture, Shyamala was helping her young daughter stand, seemingly showing that she supported her in more ways than one. Kamala's caption read in part, "I grew up a middle-class kid. I was raised by a hardworking mother, who like so many people across our nation, had big dreams and aspirations for her children. As president, it will be my top priority to bring down costs for working families." Harris capped off her message by writing, "I believe when the middle class is strong, America is strong."