Confronted with a barrage of negative social media posts from former President Donald Trump aimed at his wife, second gentleman Doug Emhoff eschewed machismo or defensiveness.
“That’s all he got?” he said Tuesday of the attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris, the new and historic presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
His response in that off-the-cuff moment offered insight into the Harris-Emhoff dynamic: The second gentleman is uniquely positioned to confidently serve in a supporting role to a woman vying to the most powerful person in the country.
Emhoff has spent the last four years getting comfortable with being the first – serving as the first “second gentleman,” an unelected role with no manual and an automatic global platform. But with his wife’s swift ascension to presumptive nominee, he is now auditioning for another first: the potential first gentleman to the first woman president.
And the second gentleman’s role is coming into sharper focus: Harris’ hype man, her closest confidante and best surrogate, and an ally amplifying her historic position and message on reproductive rights.
Already an active presence on the campaign trail, Emhoff is expected to continue his work supporting Harris’ candidacy across the country at campaign and fundraising events, in addition to his official duties, an Emhoff spokesperson told CNN.
“There has been life breathed into the Democratic campaign for president and they do not have one minute to waste or lose. And so you are going to put out your biggest guns on this – and he is just important a surrogate as anyone,” said Anita McBride, who served as a top aide to former first lady Laura Bush.
On the agenda
Emhoff is stepping in for first lady Jill Biden to headline a trio of previously scheduled New England fundraisers in Yarmouth, Maine, and Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. On Martha’s Vineyard, he’ll be in conversation with former late night host David Letterman.
He is also expected to headline a rescheduled Jill Biden fundraiser aimed at Americans living abroad in Paris, when he leads the US delegation to the Olympics closing ceremony next month.
He will hit the trail for other campaign events in the coming days and weeks as well, including Wausau and Stevens Point, Wisconsin, on Saturday.
Emhoff, Harris campaign spokesperson Seth Schuster added, “will be a vigorous and active campaigner, speaking directly to our coalition about the issues they care most about and mobilizing the voters who will decide this election to ensure that Vice President Harris becomes President Harris.”
Emhoff has carved a portfolio for himself in the past three-and-a-half years, focused on advocating for gender equity, fighting antisemitism, and promoting justice and equality in the legal system. He stepped down from a beloved decades-long career as a lawyer focused on media, entertainment, and intellectual property, opting to teach at Georgetown Law instead. He’s served as an emissary on trips abroad and has spent significant time on the campaign trail. He is also the father of two adult children.
In the days since President Joe Biden stepped aside from his reelection campaign and endorsed Harris, Emhoff has offered a preview of how he will approach the role in the coming months – an extension of the work he was already doing, now under a bigger microscope.
On Tuesday, Emhoff proceeded with an appearance scheduled before the whirlwind events propelling his wife to the top of the ticket, visiting a reproductive health care clinic in McLean, Virginia.
“It was important for me to be here today. I just wanted to make sure we kept this on the schedule,” he told fellow participants, going on to lambast what he cast as the “post-Dobbs hellscape that Donald Trump created.” He discussed the importance of abortion access for women – and the need for family planning resources for men, as well.
And Monday, he leaned into a cheerleader role as he introduced the vice president at her Wilmington, Delaware, campaign headquarters.
“I get to support my wife, Kamala Harris, running for president of the United States. Let me tell you: We are going to win this election,” Emhoff said, hyping her up to a receptive crowd of staff. “We have an amazing team, you have done an amazing job, and you’re gonna continue to do that so we can elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States of America.”
Another historic first
Emhoff has also made history as the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president, and his efforts to combat antisemitism have taken on new urgency amid the Hamas-Israel conflict, serving as one of the administration’s most vocal messengers on the issue and meeting with key stakeholders.
While Emhoff has said it’s not what he “expected to be doing” as second gentleman, he views his role amplifying the administration’s strategy to combat antisemitism as one of “responsibility” and “accountability.”
“I take it very seriously,” he said during a Yom Kippur conversation last year, calling on Jewish Americans to “be proud you’re Jewish – and just have joy in it, and just live openly and proudly.”
He will be key to bolstering her support with that coalition – and joined a Zoom call Wednesday afternoon hosted by the Jewish Democratic Council of America and Jewish Women for Kamala, seeking to clarify the vice president’s stance on Israel.
“Let me just make this clear: The vice president has been and will be a strong supporter of Israel as a secure democratic and Jewish state, and she will always ensure that Israel can defend itself, period. Because that’s who Kamala Harris is,” Emhoff said.
‘Men need to support women’
As the husband of a presumptive presidential nominee, Emhoff is offering voters a modern model of what it can mean to be a husband in 2024.
“He’s a wife guy, and he owns it,” said Capricia Marshall, who served as US chief of protocol during the Obama administration and White House social secretary during the Clinton administration.
“He doesn’t shirk that – he embraces it – and that’s magic for a campaign,” Marshall added.
As he supports his wife in her quest to make history as the nation’s first female president, Emhoff has shared his own thoughts on masculinity and gender dynamics, telling CNN’s Dana Bash in a 2022 interview that he actively thinks about destigmatizing spousal roles.
“I’m here because I’m her husband. I’m here to support her,” he told Bash at the time. “I’ll be giving speeches and one of the things I say is, ‘Men need to support women.’ One, it’s the right thing to do, then, man, OK you need to actually do it. … If I can set an example doing it, I’m very grateful for that.”
He added, “Masculinity is loving your family, caring about your family, and being there for your family.”
McBride said that Emhoff will be key to showing voters that there is a source of personal support behind Harris in her pursuit of the presidency.
“This is a person who is confident in who he is, what he’s accomplished in his life. This is an extraordinary period in their life as a couple: her role as a major party candidate,” she said.
Looking ahead
Emhoff’s time as second gentleman could offer a blueprint for how he would approach the East Wing if his wife is elected.
“He’s kind of balanced the role of being the supportive spouse, maintaining a personal professional role, and then also taking over some leadership of a presidential initiative. So I think that gives you a fairly good indication of if he now would move into a precedent-setting first gentleman role,” McBride said.
Like Jill Biden before him, Emhoff has already learned the structure of a White House, how to live with full-time security and how to navigate a ceremonial leadership role that puts him on the world stage.
Should Harris win this November, Emhoff would inherit a role that includes a long tradition of entertaining on a global stage and welcoming visitors to the People’s House.
Marshall, the former chief of protocol, told CNN that Emhoff could be instrumental in a potential Harris administration’s diplomacy and helping the White House evolve.
“How you entertain and welcome someone and show respect for them are powerful tools for engagement in international diplomacy. … He will understand what President Harris will be trying to achieve and why it’s important, including what they can add and emphasize in this new way of entertaining that would feel more in line with the times,” Marshall said.
But above all, Marshall said, his role would be defined by supporting his wife through the challenges of the American presidency.
“This first gentleman role is being a supportive spouse and understanding better than anyone the administration’s goals and how to go about best achieving that,” she said.
CNN’s Arlette Saenz and Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report.
