WASHINGTON — Doug Emhoff, the spouse of Vice President Kamala Harris, has been somewhat in the spotlight for years as second gentleman — but with Harris now pursuing the Democratic nomination for president, there is a new wave of interest in the man who is hitting the campaign trail for his wife supporting her White House bid and could become the country’s first-ever first gentleman.
Emhoff has already made history as the first person to be the second gentleman of the United States and the first Jewish spouse, of any gender, for the presidency or vice presidency. And he appears to be enthusiastic about potentially taking on the title of first gentleman.
“I’m honored now to have my wife be at the top of the ticket,” he told former federal prosecutor Preet Bharara on a podcast episode of “Stay Tuned with Preet” released on Friday. “I cannot tell you how proud I am of her.”
Harris has secured commitments from enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee if they all honor their commitment when voting, according to ABC News reporting.
Emhoff has been active along the campaign trail, expanding his efforts across the country as he advocates for his wife and her presidential run against former President Donald Trump. Emhoff had multiple events scheduled in Massachusetts Monday.
During a visit to a Virginia reproductive clinic last week, Emhoff was vocal about his profound pride and confidence in his wife.
“Kamala Harris has united the [Democratic] Party. She’s going to unite the country. She’s going to earn this nomination,” Emhoff said.
Emhoff emphasized the “broad base of support” that Harris has generated since her campaign announcement. “You see the enthusiasm, you see the excitement, you saw the money raised, you saw the party coalesce,” he added.
Emhoff was a partner at a Los Angeles entertainment law firm, DLA Piper, but took a leave of absence when Harris was selected to be running mate of then-candidate Joe Biden.
Support for Biden
Emhoff has also been vocal about his support for President Biden, despite initially not being immediately aware of the president’s decision to exit the 2024 race and endorse Harris for the job.
Last week, Emhoff, recounting a now much-repeated moment, told a video call supporting Harris hosted by Black LGBTQ+ advocates that he was having coffee with friends after a SoulCycle class in Los Angeles when a friend showed him Biden’s letter posted early that Sunday afternoon on X. He rushed to his car to grab his phone, which he said was “on fire.”
“And it’s basically — ‘call Kamala,’ ‘call Kamala,’ ‘call Kamala,’ from everyone,” he recalled. “And of course, the first thing that she said was, ‘where the — [quick dramatic pause] — were you? I need you!”
Last week, Emhoff called Biden a “great man” who supported him when he initially become second gentleman.
“It’s been President Biden who, you know, put his hand on my forearm and said, ‘Hey, kid, it’s gonna be OK, you can do this. I got your back,’” Emhoff at a Wisconsin campaign on Saturday about becoming second gentlemen.
Social media attention
Harris and her campaign have received a surge of online attention since Biden left the race — with “Kamala IS brat” and “coconut tree” memes abounding. But she isn’t the only viral sensation in the family — Emhoff has joined her in the spotlight.
With Harris running for president, online interest in Emhoff has spiked exponentially. But beyond mere Google searches, Emhoff is also experiencing Gen-Z attention.
A photo of 20-year-old Emhoff posted back on his X account in 2020 has gone viral, rapidly circulating the internet with comments about the second gentleman’s good looks.
One X user’s post generated 2.2 million views on a post of his photo. “I need Gen-Z to see this picture of Kamala’s husband in the 80s and make him TikTok’s white boy of the month,” she wrote.
Harris has embraced social media as a positive platform for spreading her campaign among the youth generation, even joining TikTok herself on Thursday.
Harris’ signature laugh has received attention on the internet, and Emhoff said last week that her laugh is “one of the reasons [he is] so deeply in love with her.”
On the “Stay Tuned with Preet” podcast, Emhoff emphasized the importance of laughter and joy in a leader, noting that he has not observed Trump experiencing these emotions.
“Maybe he laughed when Roe v. Wade got overturned,” Emhoff said of the Supreme Court’s decision to overrule the constitutional right to abortion.
Emhoff’s role as a husband
As a husband, Emhoff told the “Stay Tuned with Preet” podcast that he has a natural “inclination” to jump to Harris’ defense, but he often has to keep himself “in check.”
He also took this time to respond to Sen. JD Vance’s comments calling Harris a “childless cat lady.” Vance made the comments in 2021, but they have recently resurfaced after former first lady Hillary Clinton shared a clip of the comments on X earlier this week — a little more than a week after Trump picked Vance as his running mate.
“What [Vance] said was abhorrent. It was stupid, uninformed,” Emhoff said. “When someone like that deigns to come on the national stage and run for the one of the highest offices in the land, it’s such a clown, it’s such a fool. And now he’s been exposed. And the whole world is laughing at him and Donald Trump.”
Emhoff also opened up about how he took these comments personally.
“It hurt,” he admitted. “It hurt my feelings.”
He also expressed pride and appreciation for his ex-wife and daughter, who jumped to Harris’ defense with statements of their own.
Kerstin Emhoff — Emhoff’s ex-wife, and mother to their adult children, Cole and Ella Emhoff — called the attacks “baseless.”
“For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I,” she said. “She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.”
Ella Emhoff shared her mother’s statement on Instagram, writing, “I love my three parents.”
Harris’ stepchildren refer to her as “Momala.” Harris has referred to the clan as a “modern family.”
First Jewish spouse of a vice president
Emhoff is the first Jewish spouse of a vice president, and he could become the first Jewish spouse of a president.
During a call with the Jewish Democratic Council of America on Wednesday afternoon, Emhoff praised Harris’ record on issues that matter to the Jewish community, including antisemitism and Israel.
“I’m just gonna keep living openly like a Jew and maybe there’ll be a Mezuzah on the White House, just like there is on the vice president’s residence,” he said.
Emhoff’s fight against antisemitism has been at the forefront of his duties as second gentleman. Harris has repeatedly been called antisemitic by Trump.
In fact, Trump said Wednesday in North Carolina that Harris is “totally against the Jewish people,” criticizing her for not attending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress due to a prior campaign commitment.
Emhoff elaborated on other issues important to him, including gender equality and access to justice.
“As first gentleman, I’m gonna continue to speak out in support of that equity,” he said.
ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
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