- "The Funt is back, baby!"
- — Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris
Kamala Devi Harris (/ˈkɑːmələ/ KAH-mə-lə; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who was the 49th Vice-President of the United States from 2021 to 2025. Harris served as a United States senator from California from 2017 to 2021, and as attorney general of California from 2011 to 2017.
A member of the Democratic Party, she became the vice president upon inauguration on January 20, 2021, alongside President Joe Biden, having defeated the incumbent president, Donald Trump, and vice president, Mike Pence, in the 2020 election. She is the United States' first female vice president, the highest-ranking female elected official in U.S. history, and the first African American and first Asian American vice president. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the party's nominee in the 2024 presidential election, becoming the second woman to win a presidential nomination by a major U.S. political party.
She had been portrayed by Maya Rudolph earlier in the year in the democratic primaries during season 45 when she ran against Biden for the party's nomination in late 2019 prior to dropping out.
29 September 2019 (a Sunday) Senator Harris tweeted in response to Maya's depiction on September 28, 2019, the premiere episode.
16 September 2020 it was confirmed that (like Alec Baldwin who would keep playing Donald Trump) Maya would be resuming her portrayal of Kamala in season 46, unlike Biden who would now be played by Jim Carrey.[1]
On March 9, 2024, she was briefly played by former cast member Punkie Johnson in the cold open. Making this the first, and so far only time, that someone other than Maya portrayed Harris.
Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, but withdrew from the race before the primaries. Biden selected her to be his running mate, and their ticket went on to defeat the incumbent president and vice president, Donald Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020 election. Harris and Biden were inaugurated on January 20, 2021. Presiding over an evenly split Senate upon entering office, Harris played a crucial role as president of the Senate with her power to cast tie-breaking votes, helping pass bills such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package and the Inflation Reduction Act. After Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 presidential election, Harris launched her own presidential campaign with Biden's endorsement. On July 22, 2024, Harris secured enough non-binding support from delegates to become the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, and nine days later, on July 31, 2024, it was announced that Rudolph would continue to play Harris through the end of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, throughout the first-half of Season 50. On August 6, 2024, she chose Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate.
The real Harris will cameo on November 2, 2024, during the 50th season's last pre-election show. Harris lost the general election to the Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
Dates[]
- September 28, 2019
- November 23, 2019 (2nd appearance) (still in race)
- December 21, 2019 (3rd appearance) (after dropping out)[2]
- October 3, 2020 (4th appearance) (first appearance since of the impression, since the real Kamala was named VP by Biden)
- October 10, 2020 (5th appearance) (for the Vice-presidential debate)
- October 17, 2020 (6th appearance)
- October 31, 2020 (7th appearance) (Last show before the election)
- November 7, 2020 (8th appearance) (First show after the election, the real Kamala was named Vice President-elect)
- December 19, 2020 (9th appearance)
- March 27, 2021 (10th appearance) (Rudolph hosted this episode, and is the first episode she played Harris in, since the real Harris became Vice-President)
- March 9, 2024 (11th appearance) (She was played by then-cast member Punkie Johnson, and had no speaking lines. Making this the first, and so far, only time on SNL that Harris was played by someone other than Maya).
- September 28, 2024 (12th appearance)
- October 5, 2024 (13th appearance)
- October 12, 2024 (14th appearance)
- October 19, 2024 (15th appearance)
- November 2, 2024 (16th appearance)
- November 9, 2024 (17th appearance)