With President Joe Biden’s shock exit from the presidential race, the doors have opened up to an array of ambitious Democratic politicians who thought their time was four years from now. Already, large segments of party bigwigs, the media, donors, and Biden himself are, unsurprisingly, coalescing around one name in particular: Kamala Harris, Biden’s vice president.

As the country faces the real prospect of a Harris nomination on the Democratic ticket and even a Harris presidency, the obvious question is, who exactly is Kamala Harris? That’s a question she herself may have trouble answering.

Like many Democratic politicians who have lived through the changeover from the Barack Obama years to Bernie Sanders’s ascent to national prominence, Harris has undergone a sometimes awkward metamorphosis, transforming from tough-on-crime prosecutor to progressive firebrand to whatever this latest iteration is. Along the way, she has notched notable progressive victories, like bringing successful legal action against rapacious corporate profiteers and advancing some policing reforms.