What did kamala do as vice president

Checked on January 17, 2026
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Executive summary

Kamala Harris served as the 49th vice president from 2021 to 2025 and made a record number of tie‑breaking Senate votes while carrying out high‑profile policy portfolios and domestic political outreach that the White House assigned to her [1] [2]. Her office emphasizes that she combined barrier‑breaking symbolism—the first woman, first Black person and first South Asian American to hold the post—with operational tasks: border and immigration work, labor organizing initiatives, gun‑safety and reproductive‑rights advocacy, and frequent travel to promote administration priorities [2] [3] [4] [5] [6].

1. A historic symbol who also cast decisive Senate votes

Harris’s vice presidency carried unmistakable symbolic weight—she was the first woman, the first Black American and the first South Asian American to be elected vice president—a fact highlighted by the official White House biography and encyclopedic profiles [2] [7]. Beyond symbolism, she exercised constitutionally unique powers in the Senate, casting 33 tie‑breaking votes—more than any previous vice president—including pivotal procedural votes that helped advance major domestic bills in the Biden era [1].

2. The border portfolio and public face of immigration policy

The administration tasked Harris with leading efforts to address the southern border crisis and to promote comprehensive immigration reform, a role frequently reported and repeated in multiple summaries of her vice presidential duties [3]. That assignment made her a focal point for public scrutiny and political debate: her meetings, speeches and trips on immigration became an axis for praise from allies and criticism from opponents, though the sources here document the assignment rather than evaluating its effectiveness [3].

3. Labor organizing, workers’ rights and a "task force" role

Labor and union engagement was a concrete policy area Harris led inside the White House: labor groups credit her with taking charge of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment and with visible support for unions, including walking picket lines and meeting union members [4]. Pro‑labor outlets frame these moves as substantive victories for workers; the task force and outreach were part of the administration’s broader industrial‑policy and pro‑union posture [4].

4. Gun safety, reproductive rights and negotiated wins

Harris drove administration efforts on several social issues. External reports and advocacy groups note her involvement in pushing gun‑safety measures and executive actions intended to curb unlicensed gun selling and ghost guns, and she launched a national tour focused on reproductive rights after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision [5]. Supporters present these as key administration accomplishments; the available sources highlight actions and advocacy rather than a comprehensive legislative tally [5].

5. Outreach, diplomacy and crisis interventions

The vice president conducted extensive domestic travel to rally constituencies and tout administration achievements—one White House summary described a “Summer of Action” involving events in 17 states—while also participating in foreign policy engagements such as joint press events with allied leaders, and being credited in media pieces with roles in high‑profile interventions like the negotiated return of Brittney Griner [6] [5] [2]. Her office and allied groups emphasize these visible, constituency‑focused roles as central to the vice presidency [6] [8].

6. Political context, critics, and the limits of available reporting

Coverage of Harris’s vice presidency is uneven and often politically charged: sympathetic outlets and her own office catalog achievements and assignments, while critics framed her as overexposed or ineffective—an argument some sources characterize as the product of coordinated attacks [9] [10]. The documents assembled here list tasks, travels and policy portfolios she led but do not provide exhaustive, independent evaluations of outcomes across every portfolio; where performance assessments exist they tend to come from partisan or advocacy sources, and those competing agendas should be read as such [10] [9].

Want to dive deeper?
What specific tie‑breaking votes did Vice President Harris cast and what were their legislative impacts?
How did the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment change union‑organizing outcomes during 2021–2025?
What independent assessments exist of the Biden‑Harris administration’s immigration outcomes after Harris’s border assignment?