EGN NEWS DESK
If Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic candidate and beats Donald Trump within the November presidential election, her victory could be historic in some ways—together with her husband Doug Emhoff turning into the nation’s first-ever First Gentleman.
After President Joe Biden introduced he would drop out of the race and as a substitute endorsed Harris as his substitute on the Democratic ticket, Emhoff praised the President and his spouse, First Lady Jill Biden, in a press release on X Sunday evening.
“I’m deeply grateful to @POTUS and @FLOTUS for his or her years of friendship and help,” he wrote. “President Biden is a real patriot who leads our nation with honesty, decency, and integrity. Alongside @VP, they’ve fought tirelessly for households and communities, delivering for Americans throughout our nation. I’m so happy with their accomplishments and grateful for his or her management.”
In the previous three and half years as Second Gentleman, Emhoff has pursued a small coverage portfolio underneath the Biden Administration, revolving round his apply of regulation and his Jewish identification. Now that Harris is on her presidential marketing campaign, the highlight can also be on Emhoff and the way he may craft an unprecedented position as First Gentleman.
Here’s what that you must find out about Emhoff.
Family life
Emhoff was born in Brooklyn to Mike and Barbara Emhoff on Oct. 13, 1964 and raised in Old Bridge, N.J., with siblings Jamie and Andy. When Emhoff was 16, he and his household moved to Los Angeles, Calif. Emhoff earned a bachelor’s diploma in communication research in 1987 at California State University – Northridge and a J.D. from University of Southern California Gould School of Law in 1990.
Emhoff married movie producer Kerstin Emhoff in 1992, they usually have two youngsters: Cole, 29, and Ella, 25. The couple divorced after 16 years of marriage.
In 2013, Emhoff met Harris, then California lawyer common, on a blind date. “The morning after our first date, Doug emailed me an inventory of his out there dates for the following couple of months,” Harris wrote. “He mentioned, ‘I need to see if we are able to make this work.’ We’ve been making it work ever since.” In an interview with Stephen Colbert in May, Emhoff mentioned it was “love at first sight.”
Emhoff and Harris married in a Santa Barbara, Calif. courthouse on Aug. 22, 2014, with Harris’ sister Maya officiating the ceremony.
Harris has an in depth relationship with Emhoff’s children, who name her “Momala.”
Law profession
Emhoff has been a lawyer for over 30 years, centered on media, leisure, and mental property. He rose up the ranks in main regulation companies like Venable LLP, representing purchasers together with the pharmaceutical firm Merck and the arms supplier Dolarian Capital in a case associated to the sale of weapons to Afghanistan, the New York Times experiences. While at Venable, Emhoff received certainly one of his most high-profile instances—a decades-long battle over the Taco Bell chihuahua.
When Harris received a Senate seat in 2016, Emhoff moved to Washington D.C. along with her, and located a job as a companion in DLA Piper in 2017, the place he had earned as a lot as $1.2 million per yr.
With Harris’ inauguration as Vice President in 2021, Emhoff left DLA Piper. But he didn’t depart regulation behind: he joined the Georgetown Law Faculty in January 2021. He has additionally utilized his authorized experience in serving to the Biden Administration in its initiatives to facilitate and simplify authorized support. “He is an advocate for entry to authorized support and eradicating limitations – authorized, social, and monetary – to make sure that each particular person can get the assistance they should arrive at justice,” the White House writes in Emhoff’s biography.
Representing the Biden Administration, Emhoff led delegations to South Korea and the Philippines, and promoted the Biden-Harris coverage agendas and COVID vaccination pushes. Emhoff maintains an workplace on the White House Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Antisemitism advocacy
Emhoff additionally made historical past as the primary Jewish partner of a U.S. President or Vice President, and he has embraced his identification, serving to the Biden Administration in its combat towards antisemitism. He has convened Jewish leaders for what the White House referred to as a first-of-its-kind roundtable on antisemitism consciousness, and as Second Gentleman, he has criticized Donald Trump and Kanye West for his or her antisemitic remarks.
After the Oct. 7, 2023 assault by Hamas on Israel and the following assault by Israel in Gaza, Emhoff spoke earlier than Jewish leaders: “We witnessed a mass homicide of harmless civilians,” he mentioned. “It was a terrorist assault, and there may be by no means any justification for terrorism. There are not any two sides to this concern.”
