Doug Emhoff and Vice President Kamala Harris. Photo by Getty Images

By Rebecca Massel
July 21, 2024

President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he is withdrawing from the race and statement of support for Vice President Kamala Harris

That means Doug Emhoff, the Jewish husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, could become the first Jewish person to call the White House home. He would also be the first First Gentleman. What would it mean to have a man on the job, and a Jewish man at that? A mezuzah on the White House doorpost?

Who is Doug Emhoff?

Emhoff, a lawyer who met Harris on a blind date in 2013, was raised in Temple Shalom, a Reform synagogue in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey, and celebrated his bar mitzvah there. His previous marriage to film producer Kerstin Emhoff, who is not Jewish, produced their children, Cole and Ella, before their divorce in 2008. When Biden ran for president in 2020, Ella Emhoff’s spokesperson said the children were not raised Jewish and that Doug Emhoff only embraced his religion after they were adults, “out of an independent quest.” In March 2023 insisted her followers on Instagram to donate to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Hamas (UNRWA), despite allegations that agency officials were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack.

Emhoff and Harris married in 2014. Harris described a particularly warm first meeting with his parents, Michael and Barbara Emhoff, who took her future daughter-in-law’s face in her hand and said, “Oh look at you. You’re more beautiful than you are on TV. Mike, look at her!” At their wedding, the couple honored their respective upbringings. Harris, whose mother was born in India, placed a flower garland around Emhoff’s neck, a tradition. at Indian weddings. Emhoff smashed a glass to end the ceremony, according to Jewish tradition.

His children gave Harris a Yiddish-inspired nickname. “To my brother and me, you will always be ‘Momala,’ the world’s best stepmother,” Ella said in a video on the day Harris accepted the 2020 Democratic nomination for vice president. “You are a rock. Not just to our father, but to three generations of our large, blended family.”

What would it mean to have a first gentleman in the White House?

While there is no official job description for the first lady, the president’s wife has historically been an important figure in the country’s political and social life. Since the 1900s, first ladies have used their positions to promote — usually nonpartisan — causes. Michelle Obama, for example, adopted physical fitness.

Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Democratic presidential nomination sparked debate over a title for the first male spouse of a commander in chief. The most popular — “First Gentleman of the United States” — is likely what Emhoff would be called if Harris won. It also informed his current title as the vice president’s spouse: “second gentleman.”

What would it mean to have a Jewish first gentleman?

As the second gentleman, Emhoff has publicly embraced his Judaism. In 2021, he and Harris nailed a mezuzah to their doorpost, and the couple has Rosh Hashanah gatheringsas well as a Passover Seder,And Chanukah celebration in their place of residence.

“I didn’t expect my Jewish faith to play such a big role in this role,” Emhoff said at a White House event in May 2022 marking the final day of Jewish American Heritage Month. “But as I’ve gone along, you realize how much this representation means to people.”

Emhoff has also used his position to speak out against anti-Semitism. In 2023, he said Visited Auschwitz and his grandparents’ Polish city (from which they fled to escape religious persecution). Emhoff helped roll out the first national plan to combat antisemitism and hatredwhich the White House released last May. Last month he was a guest of honor at the groundbreaking for the new Tree of Life sanctuary, six years after a gunman killed 11 congregants at the Pittsburgh synagogue.

Amid rising anti-Semitism, Emhoff’s Judaism could help Harris bolster her campaign promises to counter anti-Jewish bigotry. At the same time, it could provide her with some cover if she takes a harder line against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Harris has called for a ceasefire before Biden has.