Maya Harris Reveals What She'll Call Her Big Sister Kamala if She's Elected President (Exclusive)

In her first interview on the 2024 campaign trail, Maya tells PEOPLE that she'll always see her sister as the little girl who "never backed down from a challenge"

To the world, she’s Vice President Kamala Harris. But on a quiet night, curled up on the couch watching a movie and sharing laughs with Maya Harris, she’s simply big sister.

"We are sisters who do the things that sisters do," Maya, 57, tells PEOPLE during her first interview since joining the campaign trail as a family surrogate. Now in the final stretch of Kamala's history-making presidential campaign, Maya emphasizes that their unbreakable bond is more important than ever.

"It has been a long road and a long journey, but I wouldn’t be anywhere else," Maya says. "She is my sister, and I will always support her, stand by her side and have her back the way I know she has mine."

Maya, who served as a chair on Kamala's 2020 presidential campaign and has been described as one of her most trusted advisers, says the vice president, 59, "has and will never stop seeing me as her younger sister," but Kamala respects her input anyway — something Maya considers an "important hallmark of who she is."

"Kamala welcomes advice not just from me, but from anyone that she encounters with experience and perspective that she may not have," she says. "She really listens to people. She respects other people's points of view, even if they are different from hers. She respects what she may not know and that somebody else can help enlighten her about. And that is just who she is."

Maya continues: "It's something that is inspiring for me to see and be proud of as a younger sister."

Related: Jimmy Carter's Grandson Says Kamala Harris Carries Grandpa's Legacy: 'She Knows What's Right and She Fights for It'

An accomplished lawyer, public policy adviser and human rights advocate, Maya has chased a career that largely complements Kamala's time in public service. Now the sisters find themselves on the brink of their biggest challenge yet: selling the nation on their shared vision for a healthier America.

A cornerstone of Kamala's presidential platform is building the middle class by investing in new industries, raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and helping first-time home-buyers, business owners and parents get more government aid.

Maya says that her sister's goal to better support working Americans is a direct reflection of their upbringing alongside their "trailblazing" mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a breast cancer researcher who immigrated to the United States from India.

"We watched our mother work long hours," Maya says. "She took us to her lab on the weekends. She gave us jobs to do while we were there, filing papers and cleaning beakers and pipettes so that we weren't idle and that we found some way to contribute."

She adds, "We were raised by people who instilled in us values of faith, community, and collective responsibility. I think when you understand the values we were taught and the community we were raised in, it’s not hard then to understand why Kamala says the things that she says, but more importantly, has her entire life fought for the things she’s fought for. Because she knows personally what it means."

Related: Kamala Harris Says She'll Be Thinking About Her Late Mother During Historic VP Oath

Decades after Kamala joined her parents at her first civil rights march, Maya still sees a piece of that little girl in her sister — one who wanted to make a difference in the world. The biggest change is that now, she has a platform to realize that dream.

"It's never been about a position or a title. It's always been about the ability to have an impact," she says about Kamala. "She has always demonstrated leadership qualities from a very young age. She always stood up and has used her voice for good. But at the end of the day, these roles that she's had or that she has sought are about impact."

Related: Vice President Kamala Harris' Career in Photos

Though Maya didn't exactly predict during childhood that Kamala might one day be within arm's reach of the presidency, she's not completely surprised.

"You see today, she’s a force," Maya says. "She's fearless, she's relentless, she's tough, she's courageous. I mean, she really has been that way since we were kids. She's never backed down from a challenge."

Related: Kamala Harris Extends Her Hand to Donald Trump in Viral Moment from Their First-Ever Meeting at Presidential Debate

Maya knows that defeating former President Donald Trump in November will be an uphill battle, and she's ready to fight on the front lines for her sister.

"We are sober about how much work we still have to do. Kamala is the underdog in this race. It is still a very, very close race," Maya tells PEOPLE. "I am just so proud to be able to be out there in these states encouraging people to knock on every door, call every voter, text their friends and family members between now and Election Day, to really have those personal conversations that help people learn who Kamala is, what she's fighting for, why they believe in her."

Related: Joe Biden Shares the Simple Advice He Gave Kamala Harris on How to Defeat Donald Trump

With just five weeks until Election Day, the Harris sisters may not have time for their usual rounds of board games and puzzles — "It keeps the mind sharp," Maya explains — but they are content with what lies ahead.

"Being out on the campaign trail has been, I mean, extraordinary. It is electric," Maya tells PEOPLE. "The enthusiasm is palpable."

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Asked if Maya's given more thought about how she would address her sister if Kamala wins the election — a dilemma she jokingly brought up in an old viral video — Maya says, "When she is elected president of the United States, I will call her Madam President... Until then, she is big sister Kamala."

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