In a personal speech sprinkled with goofy anecdotes and a reference to Kamala Harris as the “glue that holds the family together,” Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff highlighted Harris’ softer side, describing his and Harris’ blended family and their love story.
Emhoff painted a picture of a happy and loving family — with Harris, his children from a previous marriage, Cole and Ella Emhoff, and their mother, Kerstin Emhoff.
A video montage introducing Emhoff showed pictures of him and Harris in their early dating days — cozied up at the Hollywood Bowl, cooking together in their Brentwood kitchen and side by side at Harris’ vice presidential inauguration in 2021.
“Next, he is going to make history again as the first first gentleman,” Cole said when introducing his father.
Emhoff first described his own childhood, riding his bike around a suburban New Jersey neighborhood and taking the bus to Hebrew school. His family eventually moved to Los Angeles, where he worked at McDonald’s before going on to college and law school.
Then Emhoff recounted how he and Harris met, after one of his law clients suggested setting him up on a blind date. Emhoff made the first move, calling Harris at 8:30 a.m. When she didn’t answer, Emhoff said, he left a long, meandering voicemail — and later worried that he had butchered his chances.
“I was trying to just grab the words out of the air and put them back in my mouth,” he said to laughter from the audience inside the convention hall.
Harris called him back around lunch time, and they spoke for an hour. By the time they had a date a few days later, the couple had hit it off.
“We laughed. You know that laugh. I love that laugh!” he said, referring to Harris’ hearty laugh that her opponent, former President Trump, frequently mocks. “As I got to know her better, I just fell in love fast. I learned what drives Kamala. And it’s what you’ve seen over these past four years, but especially these past four weeks: She finds joy in pursuing justice.”
The two married in 2014 at the Santa Barbara courthouse, and they now share a home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood. Emhoff praised Harris for how she embraced his children.
“Those of you who belong to blended families know that they can be a little bit complicated,” Emhoff said. “But as soon as our kids started calling her ‘Momala,’ I knew we’d be OK.”
Harris officiated at Cole’s wedding, writing her remarks in a custom-bound book and giving it to the couple as a wedding gift, Emhoff said.
Emhoff’s remarks captivated the audience, which laughed at the lighter moments and listened quietly at others. At least one person in the crowd carried a sign reading
“Doug for First Mensch.”
He recounted a recent moment amid the whirlwind of her becoming the Democrats’ presidential nominee: She was resting at home in “her favorite chair” when her phone rang. Was it, Emhoff wondered, some pressing issue of government? Not quite. Harris was talking to her stepdaughter, Ella.
“That’s Kamala,” he said. “That scene was a perfect map of her heart. She’s always been there for our children, and I know she’ll always be there for yours too.”
All smiles in the audience, Ella responded to her father’s speech by frequently putting her hand on her chest or forming a heart with her hands. Ella and her mother, Kerstin, jumped to Harris’ defense weeks ago, after Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s comments resurfaced in which he called Harris and other Democratic women “childless cat ladies.” In a statement to CNN, Kerstin praised Harris as a “co-parent.”
Harris, who had just wrapped up a rally in nearby Milwaukee, had entered Chicago airspace aboard Air Force Two when Emhoff’s speech began. The plane circled the tarmac for about 10 minutes so she could finish watching his speech. Senior campaign leaders in the front cabin applauded and cheered, “Doug! Doug! Doug!” as he concluded.
A photo posted to social media Tuesday night showed Harris sitting in the airplane cabin, watching her husband’s speech on a laptop resting on her lap.
“Love you, Dougie,” she wrote.
The two will celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary on Thursday, the day Harris officially accepts the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.
