Daily US Times: The moment that Kamala Harris celebrated the result that she would be the next vice-president of the United States – captured on camera for posterity – was history-making three times over. She will become the first female, first black and first Indian American vice-president in the history of the country. But the person behind the camera and who always gives his support will be making history too. Doug Emhoff, Ms Harris’s husband, will become the country’s first second gentleman. He was already the first male spouse, on a winning presidential ticket.
Mr Emhoff has so far seemed to relish his role as a political partner. He became a star surrogate during the presidential bid of Kamala Harris, and often refers unironically to the #KHive – the name for Ms Harris’s most dedicated supporters. His social media feeds resemble unofficial fan pages for Kamala Harris.
In August, the 56-year-old announced a leave of absence from his legal career to support the Biden-Harris ticket full-time.
Aaron Jacoby, former legal partner and a longtime partner of Mr Emhoff, said: “He (Emhoff) does seem to have really taken to it. You could expect him to be a fish out of water – he’s not. He’s just swimming and enjoying it.”
Now, as the Biden-Harris team prepares for their move to the Oval Office, how Mr Emhoff takes on his role may signal a step forward for gender equality, as well as the distance left to go.
In 2013, Doug Emhoff was set up on a blind date with then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris. Emhoff then was a Los Angeles entertainment lawyer.
According to him, he was nervous and left Ms Harris a rambling and “really lame” voicemail trying to arrange their first meeting.
He said: “I’m too old to play games or hide the ball. I really like you, and I want to see if we can make this work.”
They were married at the Santa Barbara courthouse less than a year later, in a ceremony that paid tribute to both her Indian heritage and his Jewish faith. Kamala Harris saved that first voicemail of Mr Emhoff and plays it every year on their anniversary.
Through their marriage, Ms Harris became a stepmother, or “Momala”, to Ella and Cole, Mr Emhoff’s children from his first marriage to Kerstin Emhoff, the chief executive and co-founder of production company Prettybird.
Ms Harris has said it was meeting Ella and Cole that ultimately “reeled [her] in”. Likewise, for the Emhoff kids as Cole, 26, said in an interview with Glamour magazine this year that meeting Ms Harris “for all of us… was love at first sight”.
The friendship between Doug Emhoff and his first wife are famous. He said in an April interview with Chasten Buttigieg – husband of Pete Buttigieg, former presidential candidate.
“We remain incredibly close”, And Ms Emhoff and Ms Harris get along “amazingly”, he added.
During Ms Harris’s own bid for president, Ms Emhoff lent her creative services to the campaign. “They were like, ‘the ex-wife wants to do what?'” she told Marie Claire in October.
Now, on the trail, in interviews and across social media, Mr Emhoff and Ms Harris seem to be a genuinely happy couple.
Alex Weingarten, a longtime friend and former colleague of Mr Emhoff, said: “What you see is what they’re really like, this is not an act.”
“They are incredibly loving and affectionate with each other. It’s unmistakable… how really in love they are,” Alex added.
Doug Emhoff experienced his first real election campaign as a political spouse when Kamala Harris ran for Senate in 2016. But he said that campaign didn’t prepare him “at all” for the magnitude of his wife’s presidential bid.
Ms Harris officially launched her campaign in January 2019 to a crowd of more than 20,000 in Oakland, California.
“I’m out there waving, I’m freaking out… we thought there’d be 5,000 people there,” Mr Emhoff said about the day.
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