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- Doug Emhoff served as the first-ever second gentleman when Kamala Harris became vice president.
- He and Harris met on a blind date. Emhoff says it was “love at first sight.”
- Emhoff is a partner at a law firm that pledged $100 million in pro bono work for Trump.
When Kamala Harris became first Black, South Asian, and female vice president in American history, her husband, Doug Emhoff, became the country’s first-ever second gentleman.
Emhoff, who was described as the Biden-Harris campaign’s “secret weapon” during the 2020 campaign, is an accomplished entertainment lawyer. In a move that defied stereotypical gender norms for political spouses, he left his law practice in order to focus on supporting Harris’ political career.
As second gentleman, he championed causes such as combatting antisemitism, promoting gender equality, and touting the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration’s Build Back Better agenda.
Upon returning to his legal profession as a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher after Harris’ loss in 2024, the firm reached an agreement with President Donald Trump to provide $100 million in pro bono legal services supporting “conservative ideals,” prompting calls from activists for Emhoff to resign.
Here are 10 things to know about Emhoff.
Doug Emhoff was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in New Jersey before moving to California with his family at age 17.
Emhoff lived in Old Bridge and Matawan, New Jersey, from 1969 until 1981. He wrote on X in 2019 that New Jersey “is still very much in my veins.”
He’s been an entertainment lawyer for over 25 years.
Emhoff was a partner at DLA Piper in Los Angeles specializing in intellectual property and entertainment and media law. He earned his law degree at the University of Southern California.
He’s litigated cases related to the intellectual property of the Taco Bell Chihuahua and the viral sensation “Pizza Rat.”
A Michigan company named Wrench sued Taco Bell for breach of contract, claiming that Taco Bell had taken the chihuahua character they invented to another ad agency, TBWA, for adaptation into a television series. A federal judge ruled that Taco Bell — not TBWA, thanks to Emhoff — had to pay $42 million, The Seattle Times reported.
He also represented Jukin, a media company that owns the rights to the viral “Pizza Rat” video showing a rat dragging a New York slice down a flight of subway stairs, in copyright infringement lawsuits. As a result, GIFs of Pizza Rat were taken down across the internet, The Washington Post reported.
He met Kamala Harris on a blind date in 2013.
The two were set up on a blind date by Harris’ friend Chrisette Hudlin, who met Emhoff through work.
“The morning after our first date, @DouglasEmhoff emailed me a list of his available dates for the next couple of months,” Harris wrote on Instagram on Emhoff’s birthday in 2020. “He said, ‘I want to see if we can make this work.’ We’ve been making it work ever since.”
Emhoff has often described meeting Harris as “love at first sight.”
The couple wed in a ceremony officiated by Harris’ sister Maya in August 2014.
Harris and Emhoff held their wedding at a courthouse in Santa Barbara, California.
The ceremony incorporated elements of each of their heritages — Emhoff wore a flower around his neck according to Indian tradition, and they stepped on a glass in a Jewish wedding ritual.
He has two children, Cole and Ella, from a previous marriage to Kerstin Emhoff.
Doug and Kerstin divorced after 16 years and remain good friends. Kerstin is also friends with Harris — she even volunteered for Harris’ campaign.
Cole earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Colorado College in 2017, and Ella studied apparel and textiles at Parsons School of Design. Harris wrote in Elle magazine that she and Emhoff’s children didn’t like the term “stepmom,” so they began calling her “Momala.”
In an interview with The New York Times in 2021, Cole Emhoff described Emhoff and Harris as “almost vomit-inducingly cute and coupley.”
He was the first Jewish spouse of a vice president.
Emhoff often spoke about his family and heritage at White House gatherings for Jewish holidays such as the White House Hanukkah party. He and Harris also affixed a mezuzah, a Jewish ritual object, to the doorpost of the vice president’s official residence.
During Harris’ time as vice president, Emhoff left his law practice and became a law professor at Georgetown.
Emhoff taught a class called “Entertainment Law Disputes.”
“I’ve long wanted to teach and serve the next generation of young lawyers,” he said in a statement. “I couldn’t be more excited to join the Georgetown community.”
He’s a sports fan.
Emhoff was a member at Hillcrest Country Club, a historically Jewish country club in Los Angeles that formed when other establishments would not admit Jews, The Washington Post reported. For a time, his Twitter bio included the descriptor “wannabe golfer.”
Emhoff was also photographed forming his March Madness bracket aboard Air Force Two in 2021 and has a fantasy football team named Nirvana.
After Harris’ loss in the 2024 presidential election, he returned to his law career as a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
In April, Trump announced that the firm reached an agreement with the White House not to engage in hiring practices related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to provide $100 million in pro bono work including “conservative ideals.”
“Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP proactively reached out to President Trump and his Administration, offering their decisive commitment to ending the Weaponization of the Justice System and the Legal Profession,” the White House said in a statement on Truth Social. “The President is delivering on his promises of eradicating Partisan Lawfare in America, and restoring Liberty and Justice FOR ALL.”
The news comes amid a number of executive orders targeting the security clearances and government contracts of Big Law firms affiliated with causes and political figures opposed by Trump. Many of the executive orders have been blocked by federal judges.
Legal activists called for Emhoff to resign from the firm. Emhoff and Willkie Farr & Gallagher did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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