On Wednesday afternoon, when Joe Biden spoke publicly alongside running mate Kamala Harris for the first time, he took a moment to address another potentially historic aspect of the California senator’s presence on his presidential card.
It was not that Harris would make history as the nation’s first woman, first Black and first Asian American vice president as Biden wins in the fall. It was that her husband, Doug Emhoff, a accomplished advocate for entertainment, would also make history: He would be the nation’s first second lord.
“Doug, you’ll have to learn what it means to be a barrier breaker in this job that you’re about to take on,” Biden said.
Emhoff’s path to that prospective first-of-its-kind title has been anything but intended. Along the way, because Harris is emerging as an emerging political star, he speaks candidly about his love for his wife, he has had to defend her against attacks both physically and online, and he has even enjoyed a bit of his own fandom on social media.
Emhoff talked about what he learned by being on the campaign track with Harris during her own presidential bid – remarks that could serve as an example of how he positions himself in the midst of much more public attention now.
“To really meet people of all kinds around the country and really listen and really listen to what’s going on in their lives … For a child who grew up in New York and LA, and spent most of my life in New York , LA, San Francisco and DC, it just opened my eyes, “Emhoff said of Harris’ failed 2020 bid at a virtual Biden campaign event in April.
An entertainment lawyer from Brooklyn
Emhoff, who, like Harris, is 55, was born in Brooklyn and spent the first years of his life there before his father, a female shoe designer, moved the family to New Jersey. When Emhoff was in high school, the family moved back to Los Angeles.
“We went from like central Jersey to ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ era LA,” Emhoff said in April.
He remained in the area for college and law school, earning degrees from California State University, Northridge and the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
Emhoff later entered the field of entertainment law, working as a law clerk for several companies. He is currently a partner at DLA Piper, based in the Washington, DC, and Los Angeles offices.
Emhoff has two grown children – Cole and Ella, named for jazz legends John Coltrane and Ella Fitzgerald – with his first wife, Kerstin Emhoff. The marriage ended in divorce, but the couple “remained incredibly close,” Emhoff said. Both Emhoff and Harris have often talked about the warm relationship between Harris and her stepchildren, with both noting that they refer to their stepmother as “Momala”.
Blind date with the ‘hot’ state AG
Emhoff was working in Los Angeles when a client meeting led to a blind date with Harris, which both he and she have often joked about.
“I was just a guy, a lawyer, and then I met Kamala on a blind date, set up by legendary filmmaker Reginald Hudlin, who did ‘House Party,’ ‘and his wife, Emhoff said.
Emhoff recalls that Chrisette, at a business meeting with Hudlin and his wife Chrisette, a close friend of Harris, said she wanted to introduce him to her boyfriend. Emhoff said that as soon as Hudlin mentioned Harris’ name, he recalled that she was the attorney general and replied, “Oh my god, she’s hot.”
Hudlin gave Emhoff her number and he texted that night of a Los Angeles Lakers game. As Harris described in her 2019 memoir, “The Truths We Hold,” Emhoff also called her – a bold move, Harris wrote, that she found “unique.”
“The morning after our first date, Doug emailed me a list of his available dates for the next few months. ‘I’m too old to play games or hide the ball,’ ‘read the email.’ I love you , and I want to see if we can make this work, ” Harris reminds her in her memoirs.
In the midst of a months-long romance that swept the state of California, the couple fell in love and were engaged in March 2014. They were married later that year in a small ceremony submitted by Harris’ sister Maya.
Enter the world of politics
Emhoff recalled in several interviews that his rise as a political couple was slow. It wasn’t until Harris’ run for an open U.S. Senate in 2016 in California that it dawned on him what it meant to marry a fast-rising political star.
“When we met, when she was attorney general, it was just two busy professionals at that age … trying to balance two jobs and two cities,” he said in April. “But it really hit me after we got married … and then sen. Barbara Boxer decided not to run.”
“That was really ‘welcome to politics.’ “In that race, when I really became a political couple, events happened,” he said.
By the time Harris launched her presidency, he was a regular on the track.
He recalled ‘freaking out’ while waiting for the crowd at Harris’ announcement for her run of the White House in January 2019.
“It’s like, Saint ‘F’,” he said. “We thought there would be 5,000 people” – but more than 20,000 attended the event in Oakland, California, estimates their campaign.
Later in 2019, during a stopover in Flint, Michigan – a visit where Emhoff quietly met with community leaders about the city’s water crisis – he was deeply moved. “That was probably the most influential thing I’ve ever done. It just sat with me,” he said.
At the same time, Emhoff also made a nice persona on social media during his wife’s entire presidential campaign. He often posted photos of himself in campaign tournament and, memorably, a video of him dancing at San Francisco Pride, in 2019, to help boost fundraising.
Emhoff made headlines, and received widespread praise, during her campaign to fiercely defend his wife against attacks – both physical and virtual.
In June 2019, a man roared a stage on a forum where Harris was speaking and grabbed the microphone from her hand. One of the several people who confronted the burglar and helped drag him off the stage was Emhoff.
The angry expression on his face that arose when he jumped into the rage made waves on Twitter.
“I love @KamalaHarris and would do anything for her,” he later tweeted.
Weeks later, Harris was attacked again – this time with a rascal retweet by President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr. which called into question Harris’ race. The retweet, which came after a clash between Harris and Biden during the first Democratic primary debate on racial issues, was later deleted, but not before several reporters took screenshots of it.
Emhoff took to Twitter later that night to condemn the earlier post as “embarrassing, shameful, racist, sexist b / s.”
Harris ended her presidential campaign in December, supported Biden in March and immediately entered the national debate on likely Biden-running mates – a period of time that overlapped with the pandemic, house-to-house orders, economic collapse and national protests for racial justice.
Continuing his supportive style, during April’s virtual campaign event, Emhoff praised his wife – both as a Biden campaign surrogate and for her recent work in the House of Commons, urging police reform and financial relief for Americans. by economic hardship – while also trying not to draw too much attention to himself.
“I try to do my legal job and handle all these issues for clients,” he said. “And they are trying to save the world.”
