The wait is over: Kamala Harris is officially Joe Biden's VP pick. The senator from California
is the first Black and South Asian American to run on a major party ticket. Biden said
in a statement about his decision,
"I've decided that Kamala Harris is the best person to help me take this fight to Donald
Trump and Mike Pence and then to lead this nation starting in January 2021."
We already know about Harris' many career accolades. Harris has been a U.S. senator
since 2017, and the 55-year-old serves on numerous high-profile committees, including
Homeland Security. The Howard University and University of California-Hastings graduate
worked her way up in various district attorney offices. She ascended to the position of California's
Attorney General, where she served two terms.
But what about Harris' family life? Douglas Emhoff, who hails from Brooklyn, has been
married to Kamala Harris since 2014. The entertainment lawyer stood faithfully by his wife's side
during her presidential bid and subsequent decision to end her campaign. The University
of Southern California's Gould School of Law grad now works at DLA Piper Law Firm. His
Twitter profile reads, quote, "dad, [Kamala Harris's] hubby, lawyer, wannabe golfer, advocate
for justice and equality."
Emhoff reportedly met Harris on a blind date, and proposed to her in a low-key way, and
they subsequently wed at a courthouse. As evidenced from Emhoff's many tweets supporting
his wife, it's clear the 55-year-old deeply loves Harris. After she decided to end her
campaign for president, he posted,
"I've got you. As always."
Emhoff has two kids from his previous marriage, Ella and Cole. According to the Hollywood
Reporter, Harris brought cookies the first time she met Cole and Ella, who, as she wrote
for a piece in Elle, are named after John Coltrane and Ella Fitzgerald. Harris also
wrote,
"As a child of divorce, I knew how hard it could be when your parents start to date other
people. And I was determined not to insert myself in their lives until Doug and I had
established we were in this for the long haul."
She really wanted to avoid disappointing the kids if things didn't work out, so when the
day finally came to meet the duo, she wrote that she had intense butterflies. She brought
along cookies with a ribbon tied around the tin, and wondered, quote, "Would the kids
think the cookies were really nice or really weird? Was the ribbon too much?" As it turns
out, things went smoothly, and she's developed a wonderful relationship with her stepchildren.
Harris calls Ella and Cole brilliant and funny kids, and even goes so far as to write,
"I was already hooked on Doug, but I believe it was Cole and Ella who reeled me in. They
are my endless source of love and pure joy."
Cole graduated from Colorado College last year and is now working at William Morris
Endeavor. Meanwhile, Ella attends Parsons School of Design. The duo reportedly calls
Harris "Momala" — a title Harris loves more than any other she's had bestowed upon her
in her long career.
"'Vice President' will be great, but 'Momala' will be the one that means the most."
Harris was born in 1964 to immigrant parents and fellow Berkeley grads. Her mom was Shyamala
Harris, an Indian-American who became a leading cancer researcher and activist. She passed
away from cancer in 2009. Her dad is Donald Harris, a former economics professor at Stanford
who was born in Jamaica. Her parents would often bring her and her sister along to civil
rights marches.
Harris and her sister Maya were essentially raised by her mother as her parents divorced
when she was just seven-years-old. Her mother set high expectations for the sisters, who
could only watch television if they were also doing something else productive at the same
time. Maya told Vogue,
"I have no idea how many blankets Kamala must have crocheted. She was the mad crocheter."
The would-be vice president is quick to say her mom inspired her and does to this day.
Upon deciding to run for president, she posted to Twitter,
"Thinking of my mother today. She was smart, fierce, and my first campaign staffer — and
I dearly wish she was here with us for this moment. Her spirit still drives me to fight
for our values."
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