Claim: Kamala Harris held public office.

Kamala Devi Harris -LRB- -LSB- ˈkɑːmələ -RSB- born October 20 , 1964 -RRB- is an American attorney and politician who is the junior United States Senator from California . She is a member of the Democratic Party and served as the 32nd Attorney General of California .   Harris graduated from Howard University and University of California , Hastings College of the Law . She worked as a Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County , California -LRB- 1990 -- 98 -RRB- . She served as Managing Attorney of the Career Criminal Unit in the San Francisco District Attorney 's Office -LRB- 1998-2000 -RRB- and as Chief of the Community and Neighborhood Division in the office of San Francisco City Attorney -LRB- 2000 -- 03 -RRB- . In 2003 , she was elected as California 's first African American female District Attorney of San Francisco , defeating incumbent Terence Hallinan . She was re-elected in 2007 and served from 2004 to 2011 .   Harris was elected California 's Attorney General in 2010 and re-elected in 2014 . Harris was the first woman , the first Jamaican American , the first Asian American , the first Indian American , and the first African American attorney general in California .   On November 8 , 2016 , she defeated Loretta Sanchez in the 2016 U.S. Senate election to replace outgoing Democratic senator Barbara Boxer , becoming the third woman of color , first Indian American , and first biracial woman -LRB- alongside Tammy Duckworth and Catherine Cortez Masto -RRB- elected to serve in the United States Senate .