Kamala Harris: The high school conversation that drove her to where she is today
Kamala Harris was a prosecutor for far longer than she’s been a politician.
Harris’s lengthy career in law started in 1990 when she became a deputy district attorney specialising in prosecuting child sexual assault offenders.
It ran until 2017 when she was overseeing the largest state justice department in the country as attorney general of California.
She says what drove her – and what still drives her – is “a very strong sense of responsibility to protect those who are vulnerable”.
But where did that sense of responsibility come from?
According to her, the catalyst was a devastating situation with her best friend at high school.
Ms Harris, who was raised in Berkeley in California, moved to Montreal in Canada for high school with her mother Shyamala Gopalan and sister Maya after Ms Gopalan, a breast cancer scientist, got a research job there.
Harris as a child with her mother and younger sister Maya. Pic: @KamalaHarris
It was at West Mount High School where she met fellow student Wanda Kagan, who was also new.
The pair quickly became best friends. But as they grew closer, Ms Harris could sense something was off.
She first spoke about the incident in a video uploaded to her social media in 2020, with permission from Ms Kagan.
“I suspected something, because she would come to school and just be sad,” Ms Harris said in a video.
“And there were times when she just didn’t seem to want to go home.
“And I remember asking her: ‘Is everything ok?’ I just sensed it.”
Her best friend then told her she was being sexually and physically abused by her stepfather.
“And so I said to her as soon as she told me: ‘Well, you have to come stay with us,'” Ms Harris said.
“And a big part of the reason I wanted to be a prosecutor was to protect people like her.”
Ms Gopalan took the teenager in and helped her navigate the system to get the support she needed, Ms Kagan told Sky News in 2020.
Expanding on her experiences last month, Ms Kagan told MSNBC Ms Harris “rescued” her and that she, along with her family, gave her “stability and structured me into believing I could continue my education”.
Ms Kagan, who still lives in Montreal and went on to have a career in healthcare, said it’s been an “emotional ride” to watch Ms Harris go on to “fight for the American people just like she fought for me over 40 years ago”.
“I want them [voters] to see that she’s exactly the kind of person that she’s always been from over 40 years ago in high school when she rescued me and it wasn’t just ‘say something’ – it was ‘do something’.
“She was going to make sure that something was done and to advocate for me even after I went to live with her and her mum and Maya.
“She has those protective instincts. She’s going to do something and fight for the people of America.”
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The childhood friends drifted apart when Ms Harris left Montreal. But years later, when she was a prosecutor, Ms Harris called Ms Kagan and told her the impact of going through those experiences with her had led her to fight for children and women who had been sexually assaulted.
“That was a really special, touching moment when she shared the impact that I had on her life,” Ms Kagan said. “I know she’s always had an impact on my life and where I am today.”
How Harris got here
After finishing high school, she went on to graduate from Howard University and then the University of California Hastings College of Law, which she graduated from in 1989.
The following year she became deputy prosecutor in Alameda County in California, specialising in prosecuting child sexual assault cases, but also working on homicide and robbery cases.
She worked there until 1998 when she was made managing attorney of a criminal unit at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office before becoming head of the San Francisco City Attorney’s Division on Families and Children.
She became the first female district attorney for San Francisco in 2004. During her first three years in the position, the conviction rate in the city jumped from 52% to 67%.
Harris poses for a photo after becoming San Francisco district attorney in 2004. Pic: PA
She served for six years before being elected as attorney general of California in 2010, where she oversaw the largest state justice department in the country.
In 2016, she won the US Senate race in California, beating fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez who had 20 years’ experience in Congress.
Harris speaks at a 2005 news conference as San Francisco district attorney. Pic: AP
Harris spent New Year’s Eve at Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters in 2007. Pic: Deanne Fitzmaurice/San Francisco Chronicle via AP
Here, she built a reputation around her work as a prosecutor and gained national attention during her forensic questioning of Trump administration officials including Jeff Sessions, and then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
She had become a prominent politician by the time she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in January 2019, going with the slogan “Kamala Harris for the People”.
Democrats saw her as a promising candidate to overthrow Donald Trump’s presidency in the 2020 election, but Ms Harris ultimately dropped out of the race in December 2019, blaming a lack of finances.
Joe Biden selected her as his running mate in August 2021, describing her as a “fearless fighter for the little guy”.
It made her the first black female running mate for the two major parties, and only the third female running mate for the two major parties in American history.
Fast-forward around three years and President Joe Biden, who was struggling in the aftermath of a disastrous debate against Mr Trump, opted to bow out of the 2024 election and endorse his vice president for his position. She was formally made the Democratic nominee in August.
Hurricane Milton has made landfall in Florida, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has said.
The category 3 storm hit shores near Siesta Key in Sarasota County around 8.30pm local time on Wednesday, bringing sustained winds of 120mph, the NHC in Miami said.
More than one million homes and businesses were without power – the highest of which were in Sarasota County and neighbouring Manatee County, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.
Hurricane Milton latest: Follow live updates
Milton is expected to bring a deadly storm surge to much of Florida’s Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
At the time of landfall, nearly 100,000 people were in evacuation centres across Florida, Sky News’ US partner network NBC reported, citing Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
The streets of Cape Coral in Florida before Hurricane Milton hit. Pic: AP
Speaking from the White House earlier on Wednesday, President Joe Biden said Milton is expected to be “one of the most destructive hurricanes in Florida in over a century”.
He said it carries “incredible destructiveness and can wipe out communities and cause loss of life” while urging everyone in its path to listen to the advice of local officials.
The projected path of Hurricane Milton
Within minutes of Milton making landfall, a gust of 100mph was recorded in the Egmont Channel, south of St Petersburg, according to the NHC.
‘Daylight will reveal the full impact’
Reporting from Tampa, as the storm made landfall 60 miles away, Sky News US correspondent James Matthews said you could feel its “devastating power”.
“You can hear it in the roar, and sense it. You can feel it in the wind,” he said.
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Hurricane Milton ‘matter of life and death’
“They have called this a historic hurricane. The strongest to hit this part of Florida for more than 100 years.
“Reduced from a category 5 to a category 3 storm by the time it hit, but that doesn’t mean that it is not extremely powerful, extremely dangerous, and will have, one imagines, a devastating impact.
A man wanders through deserted streets in Tampa. Pic: AP
“This is all happening in the hours of darkness, daylight will reveal the full impact of Hurricane Milton.”
On Wednesday, officials issued last ditch attempts urging the near two million people under evacuation orders to flee or face slim chances of survival.
Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, said: “Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now.”
Pic: Reuters
While Paul Womble, Polk County emergency management director, said: “Unless you really have a good reason to leave at this point, we suggest you just hunker down.”
A stream of vehicles was pictured headed north on Interstate 75, the main road on the west side of the peninsula, as residents followed evacuation orders.
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Why is Hurricane Milton shocking experts?
Traffic also clogged up the southbound lanes of the road for miles as others headed for the relative safety of Fort Lauderdale and Miami on the other side of the state.
Meanwhile, animals at Tampa’s zoo took shelter in hurricane-hardened buildings.
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The region is still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which caused heavy damage to beach communities and killed more than 200 people.
Once past Florida, Milton should weaken over the west of the Atlantic Ocean, possibly dropping below hurricane strength on Thursday night, but storm-surges will still pose a threat to the state’s Atlantic coast.
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Florida is bracing for winds of up to 160mph as people continue to evacuate ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton.
The storm has the “potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes” the area has seen when it makes landfall late Wednesday or early on Thursday, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
Some residents have insisted they will stay after millions were ordered to evacuate, while officials warned anyone staying behind will face grim odds of surviving.
Milton has been a Category 5 hurricane during much of its approach and despite the recent downgrading to a category 4, it remains “major and strong”, Florida governor Ron DeSantis said.
It is expected to bring widespread destruction to the Tampa Bay area, which is home to more than 3.3 million people.
President Joe Biden postponed an upcoming trip to Germany and Angola in order to oversee preparations for the storm – in addition to the ongoing response to Hurricane Helene.
“This could be the worst storm to hit Florida in over a century, and God-willing it won’t be, but it’s looking like that right now,” Mr Biden said.
Follow live: Tourists stranded in Disney resort as deadly hurricane nears
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Inside a plane flying through Hurricane Milton
Heavy rain is already spreading across many communities with conditions expected to rapidly deteriorate throughout Wednesday and into Thursday.
Experts warned of the risk of catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding, while several tornadoes were also likely across parts of central and southern Florida.
Such is the power of Hurricane Milton, it could land a once-in-a-century hit on the cities of Tampa and St Petersburg, engulfing the regions with possibly deadly storm surges.
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Area becomes ghost town ahead of potentially deadly storm
Forecasters warned the storm could bring eight to 12ft (2.44-3.66m) storm surges, leading to further possible evacuation orders being issued along the Gulf Coast.
Eleven states in Florida have issued mandatory evacuation orders with up to nearly six million people said to be in the potential path of the storm.
‘We haven’t seen a storm like this’
Pasco County is located on Florida’s west coast and its director of emergency management Andrew Fossa echoed the warnings from other officials.
“I hate to say it like this – Pasco County’s going to get a black eye from this one,” he said.
“We haven’t seen a storm like this in a lifetime.”
Heavy rainfall in Orlando. Pic: Reuters
Protective barriers surround Tampa General Hospital. Pic: Reuters
Conditions have started to worsen in Tampa
Tampa mayor Jane Castor said up to 15ft (4.6m) of storm surge being forecast for her city would be deep enough to swallow an entire house.
“So if you’re in it, basically that’s the coffin that you’re in,” she warned.
Hurricane Milton approaches Florida. Pic: Goes-East/Noaa/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
The storm as seen from space. Pic: Matthew Dominick
People board up businesses in Fort Myers, Florida. Pic: Reuters
A lengthy line of vehicles has been heading north as residents moved to safer areas, while hundreds of flights have been cancelled with many more expected to be grounded.
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In Riverview, south of Tampa, several drivers waiting in a long line for fuel said they had no plans to evacuate.
“I think we’ll just hang, you know – tough it out,” said Martin Oakes, of nearby Apollo Beach.
“We got shutters up. The house is all ready. So this is sort of the last piece of the puzzle.”
Forecasters predicted the storm will retain hurricane strength as it crosses central Florida on Thursday on a path east toward the Atlantic Ocean.
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