California’s Attorney General Kamala Harris, whose father is Jamaican, was yesterday elected the state’s first new US senator in 24 years and, according to the Associated Press, will become the first black politician in history to represent California in the Senate.

Harris beat her fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez for the open Senate seat to replace retiring Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. California’s unusual primary system allows for the two top finishers from the June primary to advance to the general election.

It was the first major test of the “top-two” primary system, an experiment in democracy that California voters approved in 2010 in an effort to reduce the highly partisan influence of the Democratic and Republican parties and give independents and moderates more clout in the political process.

The victory for 51-year-old Harris makes her the first Indian-American senator. Harris was backed by President Barack Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden, and other top Democrats.

Sanchez, a 10-term congresswoman, tried to consolidate support from Republicans and Latinos, but with little success.

Harris was born in Oakland, California. She is the daughter of an Indian mother, Dr Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a breast cancer specialist, who immigrated from Chennai, India, in 1960, and a Jamaican-American father, Donald Harris, a Stanford University economics professor.