Kamala Harris’ family came to support her at the Democratic National Conference, including her husband Doug Emhoff and stepchildren Ella and Cole. The family took the opportunity to shine some light on how they know Kamala — outside of her role as Vice President of the United States – as a loving wife and stepmother.
© MANDEL NGANFor Doug, it was a moment to share the story of how he and Kamala met — which might surprise many. Kamala and Doug met because of a blind date set up by one of his clients. He told the audience this was “how I ended up with Kamala Harris’ phone number.”
The second gentleman didn’t find it easy to strike up an introduction, as he rang her up early in the morning: “Now, for generations, people have debated when to call the person you’re being set up with. And never in history has anyone suggested 8:30am,” he added. “And yet, that’s when I dialled. I got Kamala’s voicemail and I just started… rambling.”
Trying to convey just how awkward he was when he rang his future wife, Doug revealed he said: “‘Hey… It’s Doug… I’m on my way to an early meeting… Again it’s Doug.’ I remember trying to grab words out of the air and put them back in my mouth, and for what seemed like far too many minutes, I hung up.”
According to the 59-year-old, Kamala isn’t afraid to bring this up and laugh at him for it even now — in fact, “she makes me listen to it on every anniversary.”
But that message wasn’t the first conversation they had that day, as Kamala rang him back. “Kamala, who would have normally been working hard in her office, just happened to be waiting at her apartment for a contractor to do some work on her kitchen,” Doug explained. Meanwhile, he was having lunch at his desk when she called him.
“That’s when she called me back. And we talked for an hour, and we laughed. You know that laugh, I love that laugh,” he said, as the audience laughed.
Doug was previously married to Kerstin Emhoff, with whom he shares two grown kids: Cole and Ella Emhoff. In fact, his son made a rare appearance at the conference to share his own perspective about how Kamala changed his life.
“My parents split when I was in middle school and that wasn’t easy. That’s not easy for any kid,” Cole said in a video. “But it helped that my parents stayed friends and we all kept hanging together. We grew closer than ever.”
It was when Doug met then—California Attorney General Kamala Harris that “the blind date that would dramatically change all of our lives forever.”
“In 2014, Kamala became Momala,” Cole said, referring to what Drew Barrymore called the vice president in an interview. “She took over Sunday night dinners and taught Doug how to actually cook.”
