2020 White House hopeful Kamala Harris surges back into limelight
Washington: Kamala Harris made a splash with her well-received presidential campaign rollout in January, only to see her candidate-of-the-month status deflate as she struggled for a breakout moment on the trail.
Thanks to a rock-solid performance Thursday in the first Democratic debate of the 2020 cycle, the US senator from California has now catapulted back into the top tier.
Her suddenly viable candidacy is noteworthy in the era of Donald Trump: as a black American daughter of immigrants, Harris may well be the American dream incarnate, mounting a challenge to a president whom many Democrats denounce as the nation's divider in chief.
Harris is 54, a former prosecutor and one time attorney general for California whose sometimes steely demeanor can give way to a million-watt smile.
Both countenances were on display in the debate -- the most watched Democratic debate ever -- where she was the best storyteller on stage, mixing policy proficiency with a knack for personal connection.
"We need to think about this situation in terms of real people," Harris said when discussing the migrant border crisis.
Harris owned the evening's most powerful moment, when she boldly confronted frontrunner Joe Biden on race and identity and called out his "hurtful" comments in praise of segregationist senators with whom he worked but disagreed.
She also chided Biden on his past opposition to 1970s busing programs that forced integration of segregated schools -- eloquently invoking her own childhood.
"There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public school, and she was bused to school every day," she said.
Harris, if elected, would become the first female -- and first black female -- president of the United States.
As someone who seems to personify America's melting-pot ideal, she is no novice at breaking through glass ceilings.
After two terms as district attorney of San Francisco (2004-2011), she was twice elected as California attorney general (2011-2017), becoming the first woman and the first black person to serve as chief law enforcement officer of the nation's most populous state.
Then in January 2017, she took the oath of office as US senator, making her the first woman of South Asian descent (her mother is a Tamil Indian) and only the second black woman senator in US history, after Carol Moseley Braun.
Her focused and often tough-sounding lines of questioning during closely watched Senate hearings -- including that of controversial Supreme Court future justice Brett Kavanaugh -- raised her profile last year ahead of her presidential bid.
Harris often proudly recalls her past as a prosecutor when she fought big banks in the midst of the financial crisis in order to benefit Californians.
She casts herself as a defender of middle class families "living paycheck to paycheck" and denounces police brutality and the killing of unarmed black men.
The daughter of immigrants -- her father is from Jamaica -- Harris grew up in the 1960s in the progressive hotbed of Oakland, California, proud of the struggle her parents waged for civil rights.
"My mother was the strongest person I have ever known," she has written on Twitter.
Mother Shyamala was only 19 when she arrived in California in 1960 to pursue her studies, eventually becoming a renowned cancer researcher.
After her parents separated when she was about five years old, it was Kamala's mother who raised her and her younger sister, Maya. Hers was a happy childhood, Harris says, but she has also experienced discrimination.
"I have too many memories of my brilliant mother being treated as though she were dumb because of her accent," she wrote in her memoir, "The Truths We Hold." She often has tough words about the Republican president Trump, whom she branded "the greatest national security threat to the United States" during the debate.
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Assam polls: Cong announces first list of 42 candidates, Gaurav to contest from Jorhat
Guwahati (PTI): The opposition Congress on Tuesday took the lead in announcing its first list of 42 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Assam, with it comprising both sitting MLAs and former ministers, and also new faces, including sons of three prominent politicians.
The party's chief ministerial candidate and state president Gaurav Gogoi will contest from the prestigious Jorhat assembly constituency, currently held by BJP's Hitendra Nath Goswami.
The Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha will make his first electoral foray for the assembly.
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Gogoi is currently the party MP from the Jorhat parliamentary constituency and previously represented Kaliabor twice before it was reconstituted during the delimitation exercise in the state.
The leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Debabrata Saikia, will contest from the family stronghold of Nazira, which he has represented since 2016. His father, former chief minister Hiteswar Saikia, and his mother, Hemoprava Saikia, previously represented the constituency.
Three sitting MLAs -- Nandita Das from Hajo-Sualkuchi, Diganta Barman from Barkhetry and Nurul Huda from Rupohihat -- have also been included in the list.
Das, a two-time MLA, had earlier contested from Boko but following the delimitation exercise in the state, she has been shifted to Hajo-Sualkuchi while Barman and Huda will contest from the same seats they represented in the current assembly.
Former minister and state Congress president Ripun Bora will contest from Barchalla while another former minister, Ajit Singh, will contest from Udharbond constituency in Barak Valley.
Former minister and Deputy Speaker Pranati Phukan, a four-time MLA till 2016, will contest from Naharkatia in Upper Assam.
Tanzil Hussain, son of Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain, will contest from Samaguri where he had lost to BJP's Diplu Ranjan Sarmah in the 2024 by-elections which was necessitated following the election of the senior Hussain to Lok Sabha.
Prateek Bordoloi, son of Nagaon MP Prodyut Bordoloi, will contest the Margherita seat which was represented by his father thrice since 2001.
Former five-time MP and prominent tea tribe leader Paban Singh Ghatowar's son Pranjal Ghatowar will contest from the Chabua-Lahowal seat.
Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress president Mira Borthakur, who had unsuccessfully contested the last parliamentary polls from Gauhati, has been given the ticket for the prestigious Dispur constituency.
Former BJP MLA Ashok Sarma, who was denied ticket by the ruling party in 2021 and went on to join the Congress in 2024, will contest from his previous Nalbari seat.
Another former BJP MLA and Deputy Speaker Aminul Haque Laskar, who joined the Congress in 2024, will contest from Sonai constituency in Barak Valley.
Former AGP MLA Satyabrat Kalita, who joined the Congress in September 2025, will contest from Kamalpur seat.
Other prominent faces in the list include former Congress MLAs Durga Bhumij from Doomdooma, Binanda Kumar Saikia from Sipahjhar and Bubul Das from Jagiroad (SC) constituency.
The Congress is a leading part of the unified opposition alliance, 'Asom Sonmilito Morcha', formed to challenge the ruling BJP, and has entered into seat-sharing arrangements with the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and the Left, but is yet to finalise it with Raijor Dal.
Presently, the ruling BJP's strength in the 126-member assembly is 64, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven and BPF has three members.
In the opposition camp, the Congress has 26 MLAs, AIUDF has 15 members and CPI(M) has one MLA. There is an Independent legislator as well.
