With the U.S. Presidential Election just two months away, all eyes are on Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic nominee and current vice president Kamala Harris. The electorate is paying attention to each contender’s political stances and their family ties.
Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff — the first Second Gentleman in U.S. history — is also the first Jewish spouse of an American president or vice president. The 59-year-old has spoken publicly about his religion, his relationship to Israel, and his thoughts about the war in Gaza
Let’s unpack it all.
The basics: Is Doug Emhoff Jewish?
Douglas Craig Emhoff was born in Brooklyn, New York on Oct. 13, 1964, to Barbara Kanzer and Michael Emhoff.
Emhoff and his siblings — a brother named Andy and a sister named Jamie — grew up in New Jersey, where the family belonged to Reform synagogue Temple Shalom. Emhoff became a bar mitzvah there in 1977.
At the age of 17, the Emhoff family moved to Southern California. The future lawyer earned his bachelor’s degree in communication studies at California State University, Northridge in 1987. Three years later, he earned his Juris Doctor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
Tracking Emhoff’s career
After graduating from law school, Emhoff joined a litigation group as an entertainment lawyer. He eventually opened his own firm in 2000 and, in 2006, he sold it to Venable LLP. Emhoff then became the managing director of the company’s West Coast offices.
In 2017, he became a partner at DLA Piper but decided to take a leave of absence when Harris officially became Joe Biden’s running mate in the 2020 presidential election. Emhoff permanently left the practice before Inauguration Day.
In December of that year, he joined Georgetown University Law Center’s faculty as a distinguished visitor and fellow.
Emhoff has kids from his previous marriage
In 1992, Emhoff married film producer Kerstin Mackin. The couple had two kids, Cole and Ella, who are currently 29 and 25, respectively. Neither child identifies as Jewish.
Emhoff and Mackin amicably divorced in 2008.
Just a few weeks ago, Emhoff released a statement acknowledging that he had an extramarital affair during his marriage to Mackin, a fact that contributed to the dissolution of the relationship.
According to the New York Times, Emhoff’s statement “came hours after a British tabloid reported that Mr. Emhoff had a previously undisclosed relationship with a teacher who worked at the elementary school his children attended in Culver City, California, approximately 15 years ago.”
Meeting Kamala Harris
Emhoff and Harris were set up on a blind date in 2013, while she was Attorney General of California. The pair got engaged in March 2014 and tied the knot that August at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. The couple does not have kids of their own but Emhoff’s children refer to Harris as “momala.”
Mackin and Harris are on good terms, with the film producer going on the record about the vice president’s political achievements and acumen throughout the years.
Ella Emhoff has, in the past, referred to her parental figures as a “three-headed parenting machine.”
Being Jewish in the White House
Throughout his time in the White House during his wife’s term as vice president, Emhoff has been open about his Jewish heritage.
He has posted photos showcasing his religious practices in the past, including lighting Hanukkah candles and hanging a mezuzah on the door of the vice president’s official residence. He also presided over the first-ever vice presidential Rosh Hashanah celebration.
Last spring, Emhoff also visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland.
The trip happened during International Holocaust Remembrance Day and included a Shabbat dinner with the local Jewish community, a meeting with Ukrainian refugees, and visits to historical sites. Emhoff’s tour also included a stop at Oskar Schindler‘s factory; Schindler was the German industrialist who helped shelter over 1,000 Jews from the Nazis by employing them in his factory during World War II.
Emhoff’s great-grandparents fled from religious persecution in Poland in the early 19th century, a fact that likely imbued his trip with added significance.
Following his trip, Emhoff and his travel companion Deborah Lipstadt, the American historian and diplomat who also works as the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, co-authored an op-ed published in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“As we reflect on history, we know that the bigotry that fueled the Holocaust did not end when the camps were liberated,” they wrote. “Antisemitism may be considered one of the oldest forms of hatred, but its insidious impact and its deep dangers are not relegated to the past.”
It’s important to note that, according to the Forward, Emhoff never really embraced his Judaism before landing in the White House.
“While he would have preferred to focus on women’s rights and generally supporting the administration, President Joe Biden pushed him to embrace the role of First Jew,” reports the outlet.
The Second Gentleman has taken his role seriously. During his time in Washington D.C., Emhoff has made multiple speeches, visits and events expounding on his devotion to his Jewish identity.
“He has spent a bunch of time fighting antisemitism, but to be clear he wouldn’t be doing this unless his wife was all in,” Thomas R. Nides, a former ambassador to Israel, said to the New York Times. “It kind of fell into his lap. But because he’s not particularly ideological, he’s very credible on this. He can talk to college kids.”
Emhoff has taken a firm stance on antisemitism
“We’re seeing in our college campuses, at our markets, in our streets,” Emhoff said about antisemitism to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer this past January. “It is so pervasive. The message is: I understand how you feel, a lot of us feel alone and unmoored. We’ve never seen anything like this and it’s a tough feeling to have but we need to push back. […] I’m focused on coalition building because a lot of our traditional coalitions have frayed and it’s not a good thing to happen.”
Before Oct. 7, Emhoff set up the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.
The project “includes over 100 new actions the Administration will take to raise awareness of antisemitism and its threat to American democracy, protect Jewish communities, reverse the normalization of antisemitism and build cross-community solidarity,” explained the White House.
The strategy includes data collection, efforts to combat hate crimes and information-sharing threats, support for victims of attacks, tackling antisemitism online, and access to government programs and religious accommodations.
During a recent event organized by the Jewish Democratic Council of America, Emhoff went on the record about how his wife’s encouragement led to his work on counter-antisemitism.
Specifically, he recalled seeing a sign in his hometown in Los Angeles that read “Kanye is right about the Jews,” clearly referencing the slew of antisemitic tropes has made over the past few years.
Seeing his anger, Harris reportedly told Emhoff, “Go do something about it. You’re the Second Gentleman.”
The Second Gentleman has spoken out about the protests that have taken over college campuses since the war broke out.
“Protests are fine, but when they cross the line into violence and prevent kids who just want to go to school and have nothing to do with the policies in Israel,” he said, “I can tell you when Kamala Harris is president and I’m first gentleman, we’re going to make sure they can go to class.”
Emhoff’s stance on Israel and the ongoing war
Despite speaking publicly about his Jewish identity, Emhoff has not gone on the record about his stance regarding the current war in Gaza. When asked about the situation, he has repeatedly deferred to his wife, the sitting vice president, arguing that he did not have any say in policy decisions.
During an event in Kansas City, for example, he used his wife’s stance to reference the United States’ commitment to the security of Israel.
“Israel this weekend faced an unprecedented attack in Israel–on Israel. President Biden and Vice President Harris made clear that the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security is ironclad,” Emhoff said back then. “The United States will continue to help Israel defend itself.”
Since Oct. 7, Emhoff’s daughter Ella has been outspoken about her sympathy for the Palestinian people, using Instagram to raise funds for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.
She asked her social media followers to donate to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, but removed the link after the New York Post reported on UNRWA’s involvement in the Oct. 7 attack.
Following the murder of six hostages in Gaza, including American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Emhoff attended a vigil at his D.C. synagogue and shared a few words.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Hersh and his parents, or about the five others and their families,” he said, directly referencing the slayed American citizen. “This is hard. I feel raw. I’m gutted.”
He also recalled his meeting with Hersh’s parents, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jonathan Polin.
“Part of Rachel and Jon’s world had just ended, and they somehow are still looking forward and looking out for others,” the Second Gentleman said. “Jon and Rachel’s hearts have room to hold everyone. They are not giving up, and neither can we. Not on this 333rd day. Not ever. Not until every hostage is reunited with their family. […] The time to bring them home is now.”
