Now that Kamala Harris is the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, she faces significant scrutiny about her family and personal lives. Already, Republican candidate Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, has referred to Harris as a “childless cat lady”, which was intended to be a criticism of Harris being a stepmother and not having biological children
Should Kamala be elected, she would be the first woman – as well as the first black woman and first of South Asian descent – to be elected President of the United States. Harris’ unprecedented spotlight for the next few weeks will draw significant attention to her background, especially her father. So, here’s everything we know about Donald J. Harris, Kamala’s father and noted academic outside of his connection of his famous daughter.
Who is Donald J. Harris?
Donald Jasper Harris (born 1938) is a Jamaican-American economist and academic, who has served as a professor of economics at Stanford University from 1972 to 1998, before his retirement and honoring with the title of professor emeritus. Born in Brown’s Town, Jamaica, Harris earned his B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) at the University College of the West Indies in 1960, before progressing to a Ph.D. at (Doctorate of Philosophy) University of California, Berkeley in 1966.
According to The History of Economic Thought, Harris is best known in academia for bringing Post-Keynesian economics (particularly the Kaleckian and Neo-Ricardian brand) into development economics. Harris was described by The Stanford Daily as a “Marxian economist” in 1974, early into his career at the university. The scholar was said to have joined the institution after a then-recent expansion by the faculty to cover “radical political economics,” before becoming a full-time professor at Stanford in 1975.
Outside of Stanford, Harris has served as an economic consultant for the government in his home nation of Jamaica. He met Shyamala Gopalan, a then-graduate student of Indian descent and future acclaimed biomedical expert on breast cancer, at a meeting of the Berkley Afro-American Association, marrying Gopalan in 1963. They had two daughters, Kamala (born 1964) and Maya (born 1967) before divorcing in 1972. Gopalan died of colon cancer in 2009.
According to a 2018 essay by Donald, a custody battle meant he was not the primary caregiver for his daughters following the divorce, “based on the false assumption by the State of California that fathers cannot handle parenting”, citing racism as an additional factor in the custody arrangement.
The two are said to be “on good terms,” according to Kamala, but the now-Vice President is thought to have been much closer to her sister and late mother, as they were who she was predominately raised with. Most of Kamala’s personal anecdotes in speeches, as well as her memoir, The Truths We Hold, focus on her mother’s influence.
In 2020, during Kamala’s first presidential bid, Donald Harris publicly criticized his daughter’s stance on the legalization of cannabis. The then-Senator responded to the interviewer’s question on radio show The Breakfast Club about accusations that she was against legalizing marijuana, to which she quipped “half my family’s from Jamaica, are you kidding me?”.
Kamala admitted that she had smoked weed in college – something that angered many pro-decriminalization activists, as Harris’ past legal career had included prosecuting several people under cannabis charges.
“My dear departed grandmothers (whose extraordinary legacy I described in a recent essay on this website), as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics,” Donald told Jamaica Global Online, regarding his daughter’s joke.
“Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty,” he added. Kamala’s team had no comment on this – let’s face it – brutal response by the politician’s father, and little has been said about the pair’s relationship since. As the liberal candidate faces further grilling from voters in the upcoming weeks and months before the election, Harris may further scrutinized over the relationship with her Marxist father – especially over where they may stand today.