Is Kamala Harris's Father Donald J. Harris Still Alive? Her DNC Speech Paid Homage to Him
Kamala's mother Shyamala Gopalan died of colon cancer in 2009.
Updated Sept. 10 2024, 9:30 p.m. ET
Vice President Kamala Harris's Democratic National Convention speech in Chicago paid touching tribute to her identity as a child of immigrant parents.
While Kamala mentioned both of her parents, her father, Donald J. Harris, didn't attend the four-day event. Some wondered what had happened to him and where he is now.
Is Kamala Harris's father still alive?
During the final night of the DNC, Kamala delivered a powerful speech highlighting the go-getter attitude her middle-class parents taught her that she carried into her career as a prosecutor and politician. Kamala's mother, Shyamala Gopalan, an Indian woman, died in 2009 and was a cancer researcher. Her father, Donald, an economist and a retired Stanford University professor, is still alive, though he isn't involved in his daughter's political efforts.
It's unclear if Kamala and her father have a close relationship today. In addition to not attending the DNC, Donald was absent from Kamala's 2020 race for VP. However, Donald, who immigrated from Jamaica, addressed comments she made about smoking marijuana in 2019, where she told The Breakfast Club, "Half my family’s from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?” At the time, he bashed his daughter for perpetuating the "fraudulent stereotype" that Jamaicans indulge in marijuana.
Is Kamala Harris's father a marxist?
During the first presidential debate between Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump, Trump averred that Harris's father is a Marxist. According to Snopes, this claim is actually true and he was a Marxist economist. He conducted his research from a post-Keynesian perspective, which argues that the government should focus on equality and redistribution of wealth.
What is Kamala Harris's relationship with her father like today?
In her 2019 memoir, Kamala shared that her relationship with Donald was strained after he and her mother divorced. Her mother was awarded primary custody of her and her sister, Maya, and spent summers and weekends with Donald.
Despite their distance, she said at the DNC that her father taught her at a young age "how to be fearless." She also shared how her mother often warned her to "stay close" when they played outside at the park, but her father encouraged her to do the opposite.
"Run, Kamala, run," Kamala said her father would say. "Don’t be afraid. Don’t let anything stop you.”
