The White House may be getting a wife, the country’s first “first gentleman.”
Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, took the stage Tuesday night and gave America its first glimpse of what a first gentleman Emhoff would be like.
Speakers throughout the evening took a more serious approach to Harris, describing her as someone who will fight against threats to democracy, rising living costs and limited access to abortion across the country.
Emhoff painted a different picture onstage in Chicago Tuesday night: a dorky father obsessed with his wife, who happens to be the vice president. His words were meant to humanize Harris as not just a policymaker but a successful woman balancing her career and family.
He told the story of how he fell in love with Harris, including embarrassingly relatable tidbits about their relationship, like how he first called Harris at 8:30 in the morning and left a long-winded voicemail message that she now lets him listen to on every birthday.
“Nobody in history has ever suggested 8:30,” Emhoff said. “And yet I called.”
Emhoff said he picked up Harris on their first date and immediately admitted he was a bad driver because “you can’t hide anything from Kamala Harris, so you might as well admit it.”
He defended her laugh, something her opponent, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, has regularly mocked her for.
“You know that laugh,” Emhoff said as the audience roared with laughter. “I love that laugh!”
It was a new image for Emhoff, who, like many second wives before him, has not played a leadership role in Washington and has been seen only on the fringes of the Biden administration. Emhoff, who is Jewish, has taken a strong role in talking about anti-Semitism, something he said in his speech that Harris encouraged him to do.
Outside of Harris, Emhoff continued to lean into the all-American dad vibe. He praised Harris for helping build a “blended” family with his kids and ex-wife, and referenced his kids calling Harris “Momala” and questioning their friends. It was a DNC speech that felt more like a dad babbling about his childhood in the family room, mentioning the friends he still plays fantasy football with and working at a McDonald’s in high school.
Even before Emhoff took the stage, the father-in-chief was in full view. Emhoff was introduced with a sitcom-style video narrated by his son, Cole Emhoff, that both recapitulated his father’s life and poked fun at him. It included clips of Emhoff waving at Harris and making funny faces at formal political events. “I thought, What is my crazy dad doing here?” Cole said in the narration.
Cole Emhoff then introduced the second gentleman on stage, while his daughter, Ella Emhoff, could be seen in the VIP box watching the video and taking a picture of it with a disposable camera.
Emhoff also said that Thursday marks Harris and his 10th wedding anniversary and that he was excited to hear that Harris has accepted her nomination for president.
“Kamala Harris was exactly the right person for me at a pivotal moment in my life,” Emhoff later added. “At this moment in our country’s history, she is exactly the right president.”
