Kamala Harris’s home town cheers historic White House run: ‘She’s going to do it’

As Kamala Harris emerged as the Democratic frontrunner to replace Joe Biden, residents of her home town of Berkeley, California, greeted the news of her potentially history-making White House run with enthusiasm - and some trepidation.

Those who once knew her as a little girl living above a daycare on Bancroft Avenue were proud of their home town hero and - like many Democratic supporters in the US - hopeful she has a better chance than Joe Biden of beating Donald Trump.

"This was where her story began," said Carole Porter, 60, standing on a corner where she and Harris waited for the school bus starting as first-graders, both participating in a city campaign to desegregate local schools. "For people of color and for women, once she breaks that glass ceiling - and I'm sure she's going to do it - there's no going back."

Days after Biden's historic decision to exit the US presidential race, Democrats have largely coalesced around the vice-president - raising a record $81m in 24 hours for her campaign and gaining the support of top party members including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi and Biden himself.

Born in Oakland, Harris moved to the neighboring city of Berkeley where she lived until she was 12 with her single mother, Shyamala, and sister, Maya. She later served as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, before becoming the state's junior senator.

The East Bay neighborhood where Harris and Porter rode bikes as children is steeped in political and cultural history. Across the street is the former home of the first Black mayor of Berkeley, and several blocks away sits a school where the radical Black Panthers organization first organized free breakfasts for children. Its founder, Huey P Newton, frequented the area.

Harris joined that legacy in 2020, when she became the first woman in US history and the first Black woman and woman of south Asian descent to be elected as vice-president. Now she stands poised to make history once again as the first woman of color to lead a presidential ticket and - if she wins - the first female president of the United States.