Chicago:
He met Kamala Harris on a blind date, and on Tuesday, after an equally whirlwind performance, her husband Doug Emhoff tried to convince Americans to love her back. The first “second gentleman” in US history wooed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago with a speech that highlighted the human side of the party’s presidential candidate.
Delegates chanted “Doug” as the 59-year-old – who gave up his successful career as a lawyer to support Harris as vice president – told them the story of how they met and how she then became the stepmother to his children.
“I love you and am so proud of how you stand up for all of us,” Emhoff said.
And he said her personal story shows she is ready to become the country’s first female commander in chief – which would make him the country’s first First Gentleman.
“Kamala Harris was exactly the right person for me at an important time in my life. She is exactly the right president at this moment in this nation’s history.”
Harris posted a photo of herself on Air Force Two watching him speak while returning from a rally in Milwaukee. “I love you, Dougie,” she wrote.
“Heyyyy, this is Doug”
In the Harris campaign team, Emhoff is seen as a kind of secret weapon, a quick-witted speaker who can bring the vice president closer to the Americans after her rapid rise following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race for the White House.
Since Biden first chose her as his running mate in 2020, he has taken on a very visible role as chief cheerleader for his 59-year-old wife.
Most recently, the father of two acted as their attack dog in the fight against Donald Trump, as the former Republican president heaped personal and racially motivated insults on the Democrat.
But his speech in Chicago was about both personal and political aspects.
As the crowd waved “Doug” signs, Emhoff told the story of how one of his clients had set him and Harris up on a blind date.
The next day, Emhoff called Harris early in the morning, left her voicemail and “just started babbling. ‘Heyyyy, it’s Doug… I was trying to grab the words out of the air and just put them back in my mouth.'”
Harris, however, found the message “adorable,” saved it, and they married the following year. Now she plays the message to him on every anniversary, he said.
“This Thursday is our tenth wedding anniversary…that same evening I will hear my wife, Kamala Harris, accept your nomination for President of the United States.”
‘Mama’
Through her marriage, Kamala Harris became the stepmother to Emhoff’s then-teenage children Cole and Ella – both of whom she called “Momala.”
Cole Emhoff introduced him on stage after commenting on a video with snapshots from Emhoff’s life and teasing his father a little.
His son said their “patchwork family was not used to politics,” but when Harris became first senator and then vice president of California, they all helped.
“I felt like Doug was a little out of place on Capitol Hill. I thought, ‘What is my silly father doing here?’ But he accepted it.”
Emhoff himself has admitted that none of this was easy for him, especially when he took a break from his job as an entertainment lawyer, which earned him around a million dollars a year.
Biden helped him at the time and said to him: “I know that must have been hard.”
Since then, Kamala has called Emhoff her rock, while Harris has pioneered the role as the first female, black and South Asian vice president in U.S. history.
He also set a milestone: he became the first Jewish spouse of a US president or vice president.
Under the Biden administration, Emhoff took an increasingly prominent role, giving speeches denouncing anti-Semitism following Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel.
He also performed ceremonial duties, including leading the U.S. delegation at the closing ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
But for at least one person, Emhoff is not in the background.
“My mother is the only person in the whole world who thinks Kamala is lucky because she married me,” he joked.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
