Vice President Kamala Harris is now center stage with the major shake up in the 2024 race after President Biden on Sunday dropped out and endorsed her to replace him atop the Democratic ticket.
The bombshell shift in the presidential race also puts Harris’ blended family back in the spotlight as they could soon become the first family if she receives the nomination and beats former President Donald Trump in November.
Harris would be the first woman to serve as President of the United States, if elected, but she and her family are already breaking barriers as she is the first woman and first woman of color to serve as vice president.
Rather than being known as ‘madam vice president,’ to some of her closest family members, Harris is instead a wife and big sister. To her two stepkids, the vice president is simply known is ‘Momala.’
Harris is married to lawyer Doug Emhoff, who over the past three and a half years has enthusiastically taken on the role as first second gentleman, traveling to more than 30 states and 14 countries as a representative of the U.S. and the Biden administration.
Not only is Emhoff 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 on combatting antisemitism and has convened Jewish leaders and others at the White House and across the country.
Emhoff has also been a prominent voice when it comes to addressing gender equality and justice.
A lawyer for more than 30 years, Emhoff has advocated for legal aid and has taught at the Georgetown University Law Center.
Emhoff and Harris married in August 2014. At the time, he was a lawyer in Los Angeles and she was serving as California attorney general.
Before joining Harris in Washington, 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 as the campaign season kicked into high gear. He officially left the partnership when Biden and Harris won the election and started the transition to the White House.
Before joining DLA Piper, Emhoff worked for the corporate firm Venable where some of his client roster raised eyebrows.
The second gentleman once represented the arms dealer Dolarian Capital in a case related to the sale of AK-47s to be used in Afghanistan as well as the pharmaceutical giant Merck in lawsuits related to its drug Fosamax, the New York Times reported.
Harris is now stepmom to Emhoff’s two adult children, Ella and Cole.
In 2019, she wrote an essay where she described her stepkids as her ‘endless source of love and pure joy’ and explained how the name ‘Momala’ came to be.
‘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 penned in Elle Magazine.
The vice president has also praised Emhoff’s ex-wife Kerstin as someone who has become a ‘dear friend.’
Ella Emhoff, now 25-years-old, was an art student when Harris was picked as Biden’s running mate. She has since exploded onto the fashion and art scene as her stepmom became the first woman Vice President of the United States.
In January 2021, Emhoff signed with the international modeling agency IMG Models. She has since appeared in a series of prominent fashion campaigns, walked some of the biggest runway shows in the world and graced numerous red carpets including attending the Met Gala.
Based in Brooklyn, Ella Emhoff has also been selling her own knitwear and art including portraits, jackets, hats, coats and even shorts which have been featured on her website and she frequently posts on her social media accounts.
While Emhoff has mostly stuck to fashion, her pro-Palestinian leanings have recently made waves with the war in Gaza.
As pro-Palestinian protests were taking place across the country in the wake of 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 U.N. agency accused of aiding Hamas.
After posting a link for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the largest employer in Gaza, she faced backlash from some critics and Jewish organizations which pointed out its alleged ties to the terrorist group.
There no longer appear to be fundraising links on her Instagram page.
Lesser public is Harris’ stepson Cole Emhoff who lives in Los Angeles and works in entertainment like his mother.
Born in 1994, Cole Emhoff at 30-years-old is the elder of vice president’s stepchildren.
He was a senior in high school when Harris and his dad got together. He went off to Colorado College after graduating.
According to his IMDB page, he has worked on several movies including as an assistant on the 2020 award-winning film ‘Minari’ as well as the 2022 remake of ‘Father of the Bride.’
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The vice president officiated his wedding in October 2023 when he married Greenley Littlejohn.
Cole Emhoff was asked about his dad and stepmother as couple in a New York Times interview just before she was sworn in as vice president.
‘It depends on the setting,’ he said. ‘Because Doug and Kamala together are like almost vomit-inducingly cute and coupley. I’m like, When is this going to wear off?’
He said they have always called Emhoff ‘Doug’ at home rather than ‘dad’ and explained it as a term of endearment.
Doug, Cole and Ella Emhoff have yet to comment on President Biden’s endorsement of Harris to succeed him after bowing out of the 2024 presidential race.
Doug Emhoff did however take to X to praise the outgoing president and Biden family who he has worked closely with over the past three and a half years.
He wrote he is ‘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 nation with honesty, decency, and integrity,’ he said.
