Chicago: Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Kamala Harris, shared his love story and recalled how he met his wife on a blind date in 2013 when he was trying to gain support for his children’s “Momala” to become the next President of the United States.
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff took the stage here Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention and told this deeply personal story.
He said he loved working as a lawyer, became a father to son Cole and daughter Ella, got divorced and then “something unexpected happened”: He got a blind date with Harris.
“In 2013, I had a controversial conversation with a client. We resolved the issue and at the end of the conversation, the now satisfied client offered me a blind date, and that’s how I got Kamala Harris’ phone number,” he said.
Emhoff, 59, said he left a long and awkward first voicemail, which Harris, also 59, now plays to him every year on their anniversary.
“For generations, people have debated when to call the person they’re being set up with, and no one has ever suggested 8:30 a.m., and yet I called that time,” he said. “I got Kamala’s voicemail and just started chatting.”
“I remember trying to catch the words out of the air and put them back in my mouth. After what felt like many minutes, I hung up. By the way, Kamala saved that voicemail and lets me listen to it every year. That message wasn’t the only unusual thing that day,” he said, drawing laughter and cheers from Democratic Party supporters.
“Kamala, who would normally have been hard at work in the office, happened to be waiting at her apartment for a handyman to do some work in her kitchen. I ate at my desk, which is not an everyday occurrence for a busy lawyer like me who appreciates a good business meal,” Emhoff said.
“Then she called me back. We talked for an hour. We laughed. You know that laugh. I love that laugh. Maybe that was our first date, or maybe it was the Saturday I picked her up and told her, ‘Buckle up, I’m a really bad driver,'” he said.
He called his wife a “joyful warrior” and loving co-parent to his children.
Emhoff, a Los Angeles lawyer who left his firm when Harris became vice president, has two now-grown children from his first marriage. He said Harris, who has no biological children of her own, put her family first, no matter how demanding her job.
“Those of you who come from blended families know that things can be a little complicated sometimes. But when they started calling her ‘Momala,’ I knew we would be OK,” Emhoff said.
“Kamala is a joyful warrior,” he said. “She does for her country what she has always done for the people she loves. Her passion will benefit us all when she is our president.”
This Thursday, when Harris accepts her party’s nomination for president, will be their 10th wedding anniversary, he noted, adding that this means he is “about to hear yet another most embarrassing voicemail of my life.”
“Kamala was exactly the right person for me at an important moment in my life. And at this moment in our nation’s history, she is exactly the right president,” he said.
Emhoff, who grew up in a Jewish family in New Jersey, said Harris goes to synagogue with him on holidays and he goes to church with her on other occasions.
Harris, who is of Indian and African descent, officially secured the Democratic presidential nomination earlier this month, making her the first Indian-American to be nominated as a presidential candidate by a major political party.
Harris is also the first woman of color to be on the presidential ticket of a major American party. She is also the first Indian-American to be nominated as a presidential candidate of the Republican or Democratic Party. On Thursday, she will officially accept the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination to run against her Republican rival Donald Trump (78) in the November 5 election.
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