Emhoff is a litigator focused on media, entertainment, and intellectual property.[11] He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1990[12] and began his career at Pillsbury Winthrop's litigation group. He moved to Belin Rawlings & Badal, a boutique firm, in the late 1990s.
Emhoff opened his own firm with Ben Whitwell in 2000, which was acquired by Venable LLP in 2006. Emhoff became managing director of Venable's West Coast offices.[13] Among his clients were Walmart, Merck,[14] and Dolarian Capital.[15] Emhoff was one of the lawyers representing Taco Bell's former advertising agency TBWA in a chihuahua-centric case.[11]
In December 2020, Georgetown University Law Center announced that Emhoff would join the school's faculty as a distinguished visitor and fellow of the school's Institute for Technology Law and Policy.[19]
Second Gentleman of the United States (2021–2025)
Emhoff meets with then Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in Tokyo, August 2021
In August 2020, Harris was announced as Biden's running mate in the presidential election, making Emhoff the third man in U.S. history to be a spouse of the vice presidential candidate of a major party, after John Zaccaro (husband of Geraldine Ferraro) and Todd Palin (then-husband of Sarah Palin).[20]
Emhoff said he filmed the viral "We did it, Joe!" video on November 7, 2020, which captured a phone conversation between Biden and Harris after they learned they had won the election.[21]
When Harris assumed office, Emhoff became the first second gentleman of the United States.[22] He is also the first Jewish spouse of a U.S. vice president.[10][23][24][17] Emhoff was popularly labeled a "wife guy", a slang term referring to a man whose fame is owed to his wife (or content posted about his wife), or one who is exceptionally supportive of his wife.[25][26] In 2020, Emhoff himself called himself a wife guy on Twitter.[27]
In his role as second gentleman, Emhoff planned, as of 2020, to focus on equal access to justice and legal representation.[28]
Emhoff with family on Father's Day in 2024
In March 2021, while second gentleman, Emhoff began teaching a course called "Entertainment Law Disputes" at the Georgetown University Law Center. He said he respected educators as he had "learned [that] teaching is really hard", saying he has "so much respect for the teachers out there doing this each and every day."[29]
In June 2023, Emhoff engaged with the Congressional Dads Caucus in a roundtable on Capitol Hill, discussing the Biden administration's family support programs. The discussion stressed the significance of universal family leave and encouraged its utilization. The roundtable's agenda focused on federal strategies to encourage co-parenting, promote paid family and medical leave policies, expand the Child Tax Credit, and improve access to affordable childcare.[35]
As the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president, Emhoff emerged as one of the Biden administration's most prominent faces in the fight against antisemitism. After a November 2022 meeting between former president Donald Trump, Kanye West, and Nick Fuentes, the White House announced that Emhoff would lead a round table on antisemitism on December 7.[36][37][38]
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day in January 2023, Emhoff visited the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland alongside Holocaust survivors. His visit intended to pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust and to honor survivors. During his time at Auschwitz, Emhoff laid a wreath at the camp's "Wall of Death," where thousands of prisoners were executed, and participated in a memorial service with the survivors in attendance. Harris was not present.[39]
In the context of reactions to the Israel–Hamas war, Emhoff expressed concern about antisemitism in schools and on college campuses. He stated that conflations of Jewish identity with the actions of the Israeli government had led to increased hostility and threats against Jewish people.[41] He said: "When Jews are targeted because of their beliefs or identity, and when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is antisemitism, and it must be condemned."[42] Speaking about pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses, Emhoff supported the right to protest, but said that "calls for genocide" and the murder of Jews are "completely unacceptable and must be stopped."[43]
Personal life
Emhoff was married to film producer Kerstin Mackin from 1992 to 2008.[44] They have two children together, Cole and Ella.[45][46] Although Emhoff and Mackin's divorce was amicable, and they have since referred to each other as "friends", Emhoff has acknowledged that he had an extramarital affair with one of his children's teachers and that the affair contributed to the breakup of the marriage.[47][48]
In 2013, Emhoff was set up on a blind date with then-attorney general of California, Kamala Harris.[49][50] They became engaged in March 2014, and were married at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse on August 22, 2014.[51] Harris's younger sister, Maya, officiated at their wedding.[51] As of August 2019, Emhoff and Harris had an estimated net worth of $5.8million.[52] The couple temporarily resided at Blair House, the official guest house of the president, while the official residence of the vice president, Number One Observatory Circle, underwent maintenance and renovation at the beginning of Harris's term.[53] They also maintain homes in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.[54]
^Daniels, Eugene (December 6, 2022). "Doug Emhoff emerges as the face of Biden's fight against antisemitism". POLITICO. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2022. A few months ago, second gentleman Doug Emhoff asked his team about what more he could do about the rise of antisemitic incidents across the country. The issue had long concerned him. And in private conversations with other Jewish figures, he'd conveyed a desire to do something more forceful about it. His team decided that a roundtable with top officials would be appropriate. A few weeks ago, they started planning for it. But things took a turn around the Thanksgiving break, when news emerged that former President Donald Trump had dined with two notable antisemitic figures: white nationalist Nick Fuentes and Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. Overnight, the roundtable that Emhoff had been planning became the most pointed administration response to a brewing national controversy. Come Wednesday, when top White House officials and Jewish leaders convene for it, it will further cement a status he never set out to have: one of America's foremost Jewish political figures.
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