With the Democratic primary race in full swing, we've learned more about where the 2020 presidential election candidates stand on the issues — but who are these people really? Shondaland.com wanted to find out, so, with a questionnaire crafted by Shonda Rhimes herself, we reached out to every Democratic candidate who has announced their candidacy and asked them all the exact same questions. From what inspires them, to their favorite dance-floor jam to, of course, what they're planning to do in office, here's an opportunity to get to know your Democratic presidential hopefuls a little deeper.

Candidate: Kamala Harris

Current Office: United States Senator for California

You've Probably Heard That:

On the National Level:

One Key Issue She's Pushing Forward Right Now: Harris recently introduced a comprehensive plan for DREAMers, undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors or were born here to undocumented parents. "Every day in the life of a Dreamer who fears deportation is a long day," she said.

Ahead, more about the candidate, in her own words.

When you made the decision to run for president, who is the first person you told?

The first person I told was Chithi, my mother's sister, and our immediate family since they were a part of the decision-making process.

What do you do to take care of yourself? How do you unwind?

I love to cook. One of my favorite routines is Sunday family dinner with Doug and the kids. Everyone pitches in, but I usually do the main course — sometimes it's spaghetti Bolognese or Indian biryani or one of my favorites, feta chicken with lemon rind and fresh oregano from the garden.

What book (not including the Bible) has influenced you most?

Richard Wright's is an incredibly powerful book. It's an important story about the realities of poverty and racial inequality. Wright's main character lives in the 1930s, but so many of the systemic inequalities he faces are just as true today — it's an important reminder that while we’ve come a long way there are so many fights for justice still ahead. Some of my other favorite books are and The Joy Luck Club.

Who inspires you? Why?

My mother, Shyamala. She was the oldest of four children and graduated from the University of Delhi when she was 19 and then came to the United States to study to become a leading breast cancer researcher. She was a wonderful mother to me and my sister, Maya, and an extraordinary person. She was barely five foot one, but I felt like she was six foot two. She had high expectations for us and made us feel like we could do anything if we put in the work. She instilled in us a sense of justice and the strong belief that when you saw a problem, you don't sit around and complain about things, you do something.

What are the most urgent issues facing women in America right now?

Women still make just 80 cents for every dollar their male coworkers make — for black women it's 63 cents, and for Latinas, it's just 54 cents. We are the only industrialized country in the world that does not offer paid family leave. And because caretaking responsibilities still often fall to women, that means we are asking them to choose between the job they need and the family they love. It's unacceptable. We need to demand and pass laws that ensure fair pay and family-friendly workplaces.

One key to tackling these challenges is ensuring women are at the table in leadership positions. The 2018 elections brought 100 women to Congress — a record — but it's still not enough. We have to make sure women and women of color have a seat at the table where decisions are made.

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What have you already done to improve the lives of poor and middle income Americans?

When I was Attorney General, I took on corporate interests who were preying on middle class people. I took on the five biggest banks in the United States who were responsible for defrauding homeowners during the foreclosure crisis. We won $20 billion for California homeowners and passed the strongest anti-foreclosure law in the United States of America. I also fought for-profit colleges who were targeting students and won a billion dollars in relief.

As president, my first priority would be passing the biggest tax credit for middle and working class Americans in generations. Under my bill, families could collect the money monthly instead of waiting until the end of the year. This would make a huge difference for families struggling to make ends meet. It could be the difference between putting a meal on the table, paying down a student debt, or saving up for retirement.

How do we improve the public education system so every child gets a great education regardless of income?

Inside our schools, nothing is more important to the success of a child than a teacher. That's why the first major policy proposal I announced in my campaign was to give America's public school teachers a raise by making the largest federal investment in teachers in our nation’s history. Right now, public school teachers earn 11 percent less than other similar professionals. They are more likely than non-teachers to work a second job, and 94 percent of teachers spend their own money on school supplies. It's a national failure and requires a bold national response. My plan would give the average public school teacher a pay raise of over $13,000 and would tackle decades of systemic educational inequality by making an additional investment in the nation's neediest schools, which disproportionately serve students of color.

What is your comfort food?

Greens.

Other than God and the Constitution, what do you believe in?

I believe in justice. I was always raised with the question "Kamala, what will you do in the fight for justice?" It wasn't a question of if you would fight, the question was how.

What’s the issue/action in your past that the press and/or opposition is going to be (or has been) hardest on you about? What has this issue taught you, and how has it changed how you handle things moving forward?

My entire life, including now, I have been opposed to the death penalty because it is immoral, discriminatory, ineffective, and a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars. The data tells us that as many one in 10 people prosecuted with the death penalty conviction has been exonerated. It also does not create a deterrence, is extremely expensive and has, most importantly, been disproportionately applied to people of color and poor people. So, it has not been a fair system.

Early on in my career, I chose not to seek the death penalty for the heinous killing of a police officer and instead aggressively prosecuted the perpetrator and won a life sentence. I was criticized by many, including some in my own party, but it was a commitment I had made to voters, and it was what I believed was the right thing to do.

What most concerns you about America's current position in the world?

We are at an inflection moment in our world right now. There are ascending and descending economies, shifting populations, technology and automation — there is so much changing in the world. What concerns me is that instead of leading in this moment, we have a president who sides with brutal dictators over some of our countries most steadfast allies. We have an administration that is denying the existential threat of climate change and ceding our role as an advocate for human rights. When we stop leading, that vacuum will be filled by China, Russia, and others. We need to restore our standing in the world and stand up for the things that we know are right — the things that make us who we are as Americans.

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What is your proudest political accomplishment? Proudest personal accomplishment?

I remember how proud my mother was when, after years of saving, she was finally able to buy our family a home. It gave her a safe place to raise her children and let all of us own a small piece of the American dream. But when I was Attorney General, there were half a million families who had that dream slip away during the foreclosure crisis. That's why we took on the biggest banks to get homeowners billions in relief but also made systemic changes to the system that would protect homeowners moving forward. We passed the California Homeowner Bill of Rights to give Californians a fair opportunity to work with their banks, modify their loans, and keep their homes. After a lot of hard work convincing legislators and mobilizing support, we were successful in passing the strongest anti-foreclosure law in the country.

Who do you look up to?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar...I mean, he's seven-feet-two-inches.

What did you want to be when you grew up? What called you to a life of political service?

As a toddler living near the Bay Area, I grew up with a stroller's-eye view of the civil rights movement. My parents used to bring us to protests and my sister Maya and I used to joke that we grew up surrounded by a bunch of adults who spent all their time marching and shouting for this thing called justice. When I was just a toddler, my mother innocuously asked me "Kamala, what do you want?" and I said "FEE-DOM." All of that is to say that I knew I wanted a career centered around fighting for justice. When I got a little older, I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer. Some of my greatest heroes were lawyers, Thurgood Marshall, Charles Hamilton Houston, Constance Baker Motley. I cared a lot about fairness, and I saw the law as a tool that could help make things fair. Deciding to run for elected office was an extensive of that pursuit. I wanted to be a voice for people who needed an advocate. And I knew in order to make big changes in the system like addressing the problem of recidivism in the criminal justice system I would need to be a position where I could help make policy.

What would you do to improve the current immigration policies?

Immigrants strengthen our country but this administration has not recognized that fact. This president has vilified full populations of immigrants since the day he announced his campaign for the White House. He shut down the government to build a wall that is nothing more than a vanity project. His administration cruelly and arbitrarily ended DACA throwing the lives of tens of thousands of young Dreamers into limbo. And they ripped babies from their families at the border in the name of border security when it was really a human rights abuse.

We need comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for 11 million immigrants who are living in the shadows. I have also proposed a fundamental overhaul of our immigration enforcement policies including closing private immigrant detention centers, increasing oversight of agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol, and reducing money that goes toward detention.

I've fought on behalf of immigrants throughout my career — from getting pro-bono representation for unaccompanied minors to fighting for the right of all residents, regardless of status, to have access to public health, safety, and education services. I will continue to fight for them as president.

The current administration has rolled back or eliminated many policies that support safe, fair and dignified work and educational environments for a majority of Americans (including LGBTQ, people of color, differently abled, women, the poor). As president, what policies would you work to reinstate?

I've been proud to stand with the LGBTQ community throughout my career. As Attorney General, I led the team that brought down Prop 8 at the United States Supreme Court and established a special LGBT hate crimes unit, and I led efforts to abolish gay and transgender "panic defenses" in criminal trials. One of my proudest moments as an elected official was marrying same-sex couples in 2004 in San Francisco, long before the Democratic Party had supported marriage equality for all. We need a president who will fight for the equality of all Americans and reject hatred and bigotry. That’s why I support the Equality Act to protect people from being fired because of who they are and who they love, why I would appoint judges who protect the rights of all, and why I would address the increasing crimes against trans Americans.

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How will you combat climate change?

Let me start by saying something that shouldn't be debatable — climate change is real. We shouldn't even have to state that obvious truth, but today the president and his administration are pushing science fiction instead of science fact. We need bold action on climate change before it's too late, and that's why I support the Green New Deal. We need to repair and upgrade infrastructure, and invest in renewable energy and clean manufacturing.

We also have to take on the issue of environmental injustice. Poor communities and communities of color are disproportionately affected by issues like air pollution and crumbling water infrastructure. We've seen the devastating impacts of this injustice in places like Flint, Michigan, and across small cities in South Carolina like Denmark where water is poisoned with lead and other toxins.

When you need to dance it out, what is the song you listen to?

Cardi B's I Like It.

Brianna Ellis-Mitchell

Who is your "Congressional bestie"? I know you work incredibly hard but which elected Senator/Congress-person do you enjoy hanging out with the most at work?

My Chief of Staff's son comes to the office a lot, Altan. He is about to be 6 ¼-years-old as he'd be the first to tell you, and we call him the Deputy to the Deputy Chief of Staff.

What is America doing right? What makes you hopeful?

I have seen the amazing spirit of the American people during my time as a U.S. Senator. During the health care fight, I saw parents and children with grave illnesses walk the halls of the United States Congress, families who had traveled across the country at incredible sacrifice. They came to our nation's capital believing that if their stories were heard, and if they were seen, their leaders would do the right thing. I saw the same thing with our Dreamers. They came by the thousands. By plane, train, and automobile. I'm sure they were sleeping 10-deep on someone's living room floor. They came because they believe in our democracy and the only country they've ever known as home. I met survivors who shared their deepest, most painful personal experiences — who told stories they had never before revealed, even to their closest loved ones — because they believed that if they were seen, that their leaders would do the right thing and protect the highest court in our land. They give me hope.

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