Kamala Harris’ sister, Maya Harris, is playing a key role in the Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign. This lawyer turns out to be one of those very influential shadow people in politics.
It’s a figure who is never far from Kamala Harris and who works behind the scenes: that of Maya Harris. The sister of the American vice-president plays a key role in the campaign of the Democratic candidate for the 2024 presidential election, but she has been supporting her sister in her political projects for more than twenty years. And it’s not just with Kamala Harris that the youngest of the siblings has proven herself in politics.
Maya and Kamala Harris have always been close. “We forged an unbreakable bond. When I think about it, all the joyous moments of our lives, all the difficult moments, all the moments of transition, we have always been together,” had entrusted the American vice-president to Washington Post in 2019. A proximity which pushed Maya Harris to invest in all of her sister’s campaigns: that for the post of prosecutor of San Francisco in 2003, that aiming to become attorney general of California in 2011 or even for the first attempt of Kamala Harris for president in 2020.
Three presidential campaigns to his credit
When her sister decided to enter the Democratic primary in 2019, Maya Harris was named campaign manager and used her large network to build momentum for Kamala Harris’ candidacy. It must be said that at the time, Maya Harris was more aware of what a presidential campaign represented than her elder, and for good reason: she was chosen by Hilary Clinton to be her main political advisor during the 2016 campaign. An opportunity which allowed him to get closer to the left wing of the democratic camp and to work within it, always in the shadows, while filling his address book.
But these two campaigns ended in failure: Hilary Clinton lost to Donald Trump and Kamala Harris did not win the Democratic primary. The 2024 election is therefore a revenge on two counts since his sister faces the Republican who emerged victorious eight years ago. A revenge also because the behavior of Kamala Harris’s younger daughter would have played a role in the collapse of the 2020 campaign according to James Adams, political scientist at the University of California Davis, interviewed by The Express : Maya Harris “was seen as a divisive personality and as one of the reasons for the failure of this disunited campaign.”
“She was too present, she did not let the other members of the campaign team express themselves,” adds Alexis Buisson, author of a biography of Kamala Harris, on LCI. The close relationship between the two sisters could have proved problematic, adds Olivier Piton, a lawyer based in Washington and author of Kamala Harris, the conqueror near The Express: “Maya has never been a moderator, she has always been a supporter of her sister, against all odds. Criticism may be permitted in private, but when it comes to the outside world, there is unwavering support. and total to Kamala Harris is non-negotiable.”
To avoid repeating the same mistakes, Kamala Harris did not choose her sister to lead the campaign, but Maya Harris remains very influential and plays an advisory role to the vice-president. The lawyer would also be the only one who could stand up to Kamala Harris and lecture her according to Olivier Piton. She also played a crucial role after the abandonment of Joe Biden to push the name of her sister to her very extensive network among progressives and within minorities.
Path of excellence and political activism
If Kamala Harris has a flawless career from Howard University in Washington to the vice-presidency of the United States, her little sister is not left out. Maya Harris also became a lawyer, graduating from Stanford Law School, and she combines her work as a lawyer with teaching by teaching law at the University of California, notably at the Hastings School. She was even named dean of Stanford Law School at just 29 years old, becoming one of the youngest and especially the only black woman at the time to head a law school in the United States.
A brilliant academic career therefore, but Maya Harris has some ties to politics and has proven to be one of the rising figures in the Democratic camp, like her sister. Her commitment and activist actions began early: from university with, among other things, participation in the community law project of the municipality of East Palo Alto as co-coordinator of the domestic violence clinic, as reported THE Daily Beats in 2017. She then joined the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) movement of Northern California, in which she specialized in the defense of minorities and civil rights. Close struggles and a journey that she shares with her sister.
Maya and Kamala Harris: a close relationship
With only two years apart, the Harris sisters have always been close according to the different biographies of the American vice-president and the latter’s rare confidences. From childhood, adolescence to adulthood. They both followed their mother, Shyamala Gopalan, when their parents separated and left California for Montreal. The only English-speaking students in a French establishment, their bond strengthens. The similarity of their backgrounds, both academic and activist, also played a role in the Harris sisters’ relationships. Likewise when Maya Harris gives birth to her only daughter, Meena, at 17 years old. The two sisters take part in the child’s education alongside their respective studies. For the record, Meena shares her aunt Kamala’s birthday.
The importance of the family bond goes beyond the two sisters in the Harris clan. The Express also reports that the American vice-president brings her family together every Sunday for a weekly meal, which has revolved a lot around politics and her campaign in recent weeks. In addition to the candidate and her sister, their respective husbands are also involved. It must be said that the American presidency has been a goal for several years now. “When she is president of the United States, I will call her Madam President, but until then it’s just Kamala” joked Maya Harris during a rare interview given with her sister to Beast TV in 2019. Response from the eldest: “No no, you call me big sister”.