During her speech at the final day of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, where Vice President Kamala Harris officially accepted the Democratic nomination for president, she spoke fondly of her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris.

She described how her mother, a “five-foot-tall brown woman with an accent” who moved to the U.S. from India at the age of 19, inspired her and her sister, Maya, to take action against injustice.

Harris also reflected on her father, Donald Harris, sharing happy memories from her early years.

“At the park, my mother would say, ‘Stay close.’ But my father would encouragingly smile and say, ‘Run, Kamala, run. Don’t be afraid. Don’t let anything stop you.’ From my childhood, he instilled in me the importance of being fearless,” she recalled.

However, Harris noted that her parents divorced when she was in elementary school.

“For the most part, it was my mother who raised us,” she said.

As stated in Harris’ memoir from 2019, Donald continued to see his daughters during weekends and over the summer breaks.

Who is Donald Harris, Kamala Harris’ father?

Donald Harris is an economist known for his post-Keynesian perspectives and writings on Marxist theory. He is a retired professor from Stanford University and has worked as an economic advisor for Jamaica, his native country. He has also taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In her address, Harris referred to her father as a “student from Jamaica” when he and her mother first met.

Born in Jamaica, Donald immigrated to the U.S. to pursue a doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley, where he encountered Shyamala, who was studying for her degree in biochemistry.

Was Kamala Harris’ father present at the DNC?

Donald Harris is the only living parent of Kamala; her mother Shyamala passed away from colon cancer in 2009.

However, he was not present at the Democratic convention this week and has generally remained absent from his daughter’s political life. He last expressed his opinion on her career in 2019 when he criticized a remark she made regarding whether she had ever smoked marijuana.

“Half my family’s from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?” Harris had commented.

In response, Donald Harris told Jamaica Global Online that he believed his ancestors “must be turning in their graves right now” at the idea of their Jamaican heritage being linked with “the false stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker.”

Harris’ campaign did not reply to his comments at that time.

Doug Emhoff, Maya Harris; Kamala Harris’ family at the DNC

While Donald was absent from the Democratic convention, many of Harris’ relatives were there to support her.

This included her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, her sister Maya Harris, her stepchildren Ella and Cole Emhoff, and her nieces and nephews Meena Harris, Alexander Hudlin, Jasper Emhoff, and Arden Emhoff.

Maia Pandey of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.