Behind Vice President Kamala Harris’ “Momala” are her stepsons, Cole and Ella Emhoff, who are also stepping into the spotlight as Harris’ presidential campaign gets into full swing.
Ella Emhoff, 25, spoke out earlier this week after resurfaced comments made by Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, who in 2021 said Harris and other Democrats were “childless, catty women who want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
Ella Emhoff fired back in an Instagram Story posted on Thursday.
“How can you say you don’t have children when you have such beautiful children like Cole and me?,” she said. “I love all three of my parents.”
The youngest members of the second family, Cole, 29, and Ella, 25, are the children of second gentleman Doug Emhoff. Emhoff was previously married to film producer Kirsten Emhoff, who also called Vance’s comments “baseless.”
“Kamala has been co-parenting with Doug and me for over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers,” she said in a statement to NBC News. “She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective and always there for us. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her there.”
Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesman for Vance, told NBC News that people on the left are taking Vance’s comments out of context and “creating a false narrative about where he stands on issues.”
Since the pandemic and President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential bid, Ella Emhoff has become a social media phenomenon.
Sometimes referred to as the “first daughter of Bushwick,” the New York native graduated from Parsons School of Design and signed with prestigious modeling agency IMG Models in 2021. She also made a cameo appearance in Beau Burnham’s 2013 music video “Repeat Stuff.”
Gen Z Americans have identified with her androgynous fashion sense and quirky hobbies since her stepmother became vice president. In a 2021 interview with The New York Times alongside her brother, she described her mother, Doug Emhoff, and Harris as a “three-person parenting team.” They don’t always understand her interests, she said, but they’re supportive anyway.
“When it comes to hairstyles and tattoos and stuff, I think it all falls into the category of, ‘I don’t understand this, but I want you to be whoever you want to be,'” she said.
She has appeared on magazine covers and editorials, walked the runway, and was also known for her knitting club, “Soft Hands Knit Club,” where she taught community members in New York City how to knit using her own materials.
On her website, Ella Emhoff describes herself as a multi-faceted artist and creator. She is very active on Instagram, where she mainly shares photos of her knitting, modeling, and her dog.
In an interview with The New York Times, Ella described her parents’ relationship as “like forever newlyweds” and said she has a strong bond with her stepmother.
“It’s a beautiful dynamic that we all have, and I think it’s a good model to show that this isn’t weird and that this can be done,” she said.
Doug Emhoff’s son, Cole, keeps a much lower profile on social media than his sister, but he has frequently showcased his close bond with Harris, who officiated at his wedding last year.
“I was so happy that my kids asked me to do it,” Harris told People magazine at the time. “For us, marriage isn’t just about two people, it’s about families coming together, so we all went in with that spirit.”
Cole Emhoff said he’d had a crush on Harris since they first met during their senior year of high school.
“I met her and we had a great dinner, and I thought, wow, Doug has met someone really unique and special,” he told Glamour magazine in 2020.
The siblings attended Biden’s inauguration in 2021, and behind-the-scenes photos spiced up Cole’s usually low-key Instagram posts.
“It’s weird to turn on CNN and see my dad on, and I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, you shouldn’t be there! But maybe you are?'” he told The New York Times in an interview. “I’ve never been much involved in politics my whole life, so this is completely unprecedented. I’m still getting used to it.”
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