Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff is ready to step into the breach for Vice President Harris.
Since his wife expected democratic candidate for the presidency this week, Emhoff has challenged her opponentformer President Trump for attacks against Harris, building on previous criticism in which Emhoff called the Republican candidate a “known anti-Semite” and “toxic.”
Harris’ allies can’t wait for Emhoff, who is considered a staunch defender of his wife, to enter the campaign and be used as a secret weapon for her historic candidacy.
In a first look at how Emhoff might handle Trump’s criticism of Harris, the second gentleman told reporters traveling with him to Virginia on Tuesday: “That’s all he has?”
“You heard the Vice President yesterday make the case against Donald Trump very clearly. She made the case directly and in a compelling way. But she also laid out a vision for the future, a vision where there is freedom, where we don’t have to talk about today’s issues in this hellscape that Donald Trump has created after Dobbs,” Emhoff said.
The stop in Virginia came at a time when Emhoff, like the rest of Harris’ campaign team, was going full steam ahead with the election campaign.
He was with Harris to introduce her to Campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday; visited Virginia on Tuesday to visit a reproductive health center; and will travel to Wisconsin on Saturday to serve as a keynote speaker at a campaign rally for Harris and Democrats across the ballot.
Allies say this all testifies to the close relationship between the two.
“Mr. Emhoff and Vice President Harris are true partners in the truest sense of the word. His support for the Vice President fuels the fight for gender justice in ways that will shape generations to come. The second gentleman is a significant asset to the campaign – that’s why we see him hitting the campaign trail and mobilizing people across the country,” said Rachel Palermo, who served as Harris’ deputy communications director and White House counsel.
A former Senate aide to Harris also praised Emhoff’s personality, which could be crucial in attracting voters’ attention.
“The second gentleman has always been incredibly supportive of Vice President Harris. Not only as a sounding board for her, but also as a human being because he is so funny and brilliant in conversation. His background will certainly be an asset to her campaign as she tries to unite people across the country,” the former Senate aide said.
Trump has called Harris the “laughing Kamala” and the “lying Kamala” since she entered the presidential race after President Biden dropped out on Sunday amid growing pressure to resign or lose the election.
Harris was able to quickly rally the party around her – accelerated by the support of Biden and former Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California – and quickly gained the support of enough delegates to secure her nomination before the Democratic convention in August.
She has also been on the campaign trail since Tuesday, stopping in Texas, Indiana and Wisconsin to test her messages and strategies for her campaign.
While Harris is clearly the focus, Seth Schuster, the Harris campaign’s national spokesman, called Emhoff “the vice president’s biggest supporter both on and off the campaign trail” and said he will be “a vigorous and active campaigner” in the run-up to the November election.
Emhoff’s rebuff of Trump’s attacks on his wife this week is not the first time he has attacked the former president.
In March, Emhoff, who is of Jewish descent, said Trump should be “condemned” for his interview with conservative radio host Sebastian Gorka in which he said: Democrats “hate Israel” and that Jewish voters who support Democrats hate their religion.
“This is a disgusting, vitriolic anti-Semitic statement that no one could make, let alone a former president of the United States, and it must be condemned,” Emhoff said. said.
As Trump shared a video Emhoff spoke of a “united empire” on social media in May said“The last person I would take advice from as a Jew is a known anti-Semite who has had dinner with anti-Semites and who said after Charlottesville that there were good people on both sides.”
But Emhoff has a completely different side besides his role as a fighting dog: he is also the “cool guy”.
Aside from his government work, Emhoff spent his time in Washington engaging in normal city activities, such as playing baseball and visiting cafes and breweries.
He also spent his time with Buddy moments with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s husband Chasten, Small talk with celebrities in front of the White House, cheering on the US women’s team at the World Cup in New Zealand and attending the US women’s basketball training before the Olympic Games in Paris.
“I think he brings a warmth and a personability that fits her very well, and I think all of those things will make him a great asset to the campaign,” Katherine Sibley, a history professor at Saint Joseph’s University, said of Emhoff.
Emhoff forged his own path as second gentleman when he was first to assume the role. He taught as a distinguished guest at Georgetown University Law Center after resigning from his law firm, DLA Piper, in August 2020 when Harris ran against Biden. He was a partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office, specializing in media, sports and entertainment, and intellectual property.
Political observers see his retirement from his work at the law firm and his support for Harris as another plus point for her in the election campaign, underscoring their sturdy marriage.
“In every good marriage, there’s a balance and you help each other, and that’s what people should take away from it,” said Anita McBride, former chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush. “How does the strength of a marriage help? It helps a lot.”
Meanwhile, Republicans are considering how to criticize Harris. The Republican leadership is warning their colleagues in particular against using diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies to do so.
That didn’t aid when a clip from 2021 recently resurfaced in which Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio), referred to Harris and other female politicians at the time as “childless cat ladies,” even though she is the stepmother to Emhoff’s two children.
Emhoff’s role in Harris’ life will also be compared to that of Trump’s wife, former first lady Melania Trump, who attended the Republican National Convention to hear the former president’s speech on the final day but was otherwise almost completely absent from the campaign trail.
Sibley expects Emhoff to be the opposite for Harris.
“That she comes to the convention and hardly leaves a trace of herself there,” Sibley said of Melania Trump. “That’s completely different, I don’t think we’ll see anything like that with Doug Emhoff. I can’t imagine him not speaking at the convention, that would be shocking.”
