Vice President Kamala Harris is now at the center of major changes in the 2024 race after President Biden withdrew Sunday and endorsed her as his successor on the Democratic ticket.
The surprising shift in the presidential race also puts Harris’ blended family back in the spotlight. They could become the first such family if Harris wins the nomination and defeats former President Donald Trump in November.
If elected, Harris would be the first woman to become president of the United States. But she and her family are already breaking barriers, as the first woman and the first woman of color to serve as vice president.
Instead of being called “Madame Vice President,” Harris is a wife and big sister to some of her close family members. To her two stepchildren, the vice president is simply “Momala.”
Vice President Kamala Harris is known as “Momala” to her two stepchildren, Cole and Ella, the children of her husband Doug Emhoff
Harris is married to attorney Doug Emhoff, who has enthusiastically taken on the role of first second gentleman over the past three and a half years, visiting more than 30 states and 14 countries as a representative of the U.S. and the Biden administration.
Not only is he the first second gentleman, he is also the first Jewish spouse of an American vice president or president. He has been a leading voice in the administration in the fight against anti-Semitism, convening Jewish leaders and others in the White House and across the country.
Emhoff has also been a prominent voice when it comes to gender equality and justice.
Emhoff has been a lawyer and advocate for legal aid for over 30 years and also teaches at Georgetown University Law Center.
Emhoff and Harris married in August 2014. At the time, he was a lawyer in Los Angeles and she was attorney general of California.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Income Secretary Doug Emhoff arrive at the White House on March 21, 2023
If Harris is elected president, Emhoff would be the first First Gentleman. He is already the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president.
Before joining Harris in Washington as first deputy, Emhoff was a partner at the law firm DLA Piper.
He first took a temporary leave of absence from the firm ahead of the 2020 election, when the campaign season was in full swing. He officially left the partnership once Biden and Harris won the election and the White House transition began.
Before joining DLA, Emhoff worked for the corporate firm Venable, where some of his clients raised questions.
The second gentleman once represented arms dealer Dolarian Capital in a case over the sale of AK-47s for use in Afghanistan and pharmaceutical company Merck in lawsuits over the drug Fosamax, the New York Times reported.
Doug Emhoff holds the Bible as his wife Kamala Harris is sworn in as the first female Vice President of the United States by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on January 20, 2021
A photo of the second gentleman embracing his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, posted on Instagram
Harris is now stepmother to Emhoff’s two adult children, Ella and Cole.
In 2019, she wrote an essay describing her stepchildren as her “infinite source of love and pure joy” and explaining how the name ‘Momala’ came into being.
“A few years later, when Doug and I got married, Cole, Ella, and I agreed that we didn’t like the term ‘stepmom.’ Instead, they came up with the name ‘Momala,’” she wrote in Elle Magazine.
The vice president also praised Emhoff’s ex-wife Kerstin as someone who has become a “dear friend.”
Ella Emhoff, now 25, was an art student when Harris was chosen as Biden’s running mate. She has since exploded onto the fashion and art scene when her stepmother became the first female vice president of the United States.
Ella Emhoff is the youngest of Vice President Harris’ two stepchildren. The 25-year-old has made waves in the fashion world since her stepmother became vice president as a model and knitwear designer.
In January 2021, Emhoff signed with the international modeling agency IMG Models. Since then, she has appeared in a series of high-profile fashion campaigns, walked in some of the world’s biggest fashion shows and graced numerous red carpets, including the Met Gala.
Brooklyn-based Ella Emhoff also sells her own knitwear and art, including portraits, jackets, hats, coats, and even shorts, which can be seen on her website and she posts regularly on her social media accounts.
Ella Emhoff at the 2021 Met Gala in New York City. It is known as the biggest night in fashion
Harris hugs her stepdaughter model Ella Emhoff
Ella Emhoff drew criticism when she urged her many followers earlier this year to donate to the UN agency accused of having ties to Hamas
Although Emhoff is primarily concerned with fashion, her pro-Palestinian preferences have recently caused a stir due to the war in Gaza.
As pro-Palestinian protests took place across the country following Israel’s war in Gaza, following the Hamas attack, the second stepdaughter urged her more than 300,000 social media followers to donate to the UN agency accused of supporting Hamas.
After posting a link to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the largest employer in Gaza, she was criticized by some critics and Jewish organizations, who pointed to alleged ties to the terrorist group.
There no longer appear to be any links to fundraising events on her Instagram page.
Cole Emhoff, 30, works in film production in Los Angeles. He married Greenley Littlejohn last year. Vice President Harris officiated at their wedding
Less well known is Harris’ stepson Cole Emhoff, who lives in Los Angeles and, like his mother, works in the entertainment industry.
Cole Emhoff was born in 1994 and, at 30, is the eldest of the vice president’s stepchildren.
He was a senior in high school when Harris and his father got together. After graduating, he attended Colorado College.
According to his IMDB page, he has worked on several films, including as an assistant on the award-winning 2020 film ‘Minari’ and on the 2022 remake of ‘Father of the Bride’.
The Vice President solemnized the nuptials in October 2023, when he married Greenley Littlejohn.
Cole Emhoff was asked about his father and stepmother’s relationship in an interview with the New York Times, just before she was sworn in as vice president.
“It depends on the setting,” he said. “Because Doug and Kamala are almost vomit-inducingly cute and couple-y together. I’m like, When is this going to play out?”
He said that at home they always called Emhoff “Doug” instead of “Dad” and that he explained it as a term of endearment.
Doug, Cole and Ella Emhoff have not yet commented on President Biden’s endorsement of Harris as his successor after he withdrew from the 2024 presidential race.
Doug Emhoff did, however, offer praise to the outgoing president and the Biden family, with whom he has worked closely over the past three and a half years.
He wrote that he is“I am deeply grateful to the President and First Lady Jill Biden for their years of friendship and support.”
“President Biden is a true patriot who leads our country with honesty, decency and integrity,” he said.
