Indian-American Kamala Harris is set to be sworn in as the first woman of color to become Vice President of the United States. And after much debate, it appears that Harris’s office has finally settled on a nickname for Emhoff.
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Harris confirmed that her husband would be officially called the “Second Gentleman of the United States,” becoming the first man to be treated like this.
In a video that has gone viral on social media, a CNN Anchor can be seen talking to the vice president-elect and asking, “What should we call him? Is he the second gentleman? Is he the second guy?” to which Harris responds with a laugh, “Well, I think the term has become ‘second gentleman.’
When the host asks Harris if she would call him Second Gentleman, she says, “No, I’ll call him honey.”
Since Harris is the first woman to become vice president-elect, the Second Gentleman role is also new. Until now, vice presidents’ wives had been called the Second Lady. The term is known to have been first used by Jennie Tuttle Hobart, wife of Vice President Garret Hobart (1897–1899), who used it to describe herself.
The current incumbent Second Lady is Karen Pence, wife of current Republican Vice President Mike Pence.
The president and his family form the First Family, and Joe Biden’s election victory made his wife Jill Biden the First Lady of the United States.
In her election victory acceptance speech, Kamala Harris had said that she was the first woman to win a vice presidential election, but that she will not be the last. We hope that we will see many of the Second Knights to come and maybe even a First Knight one day.
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