Douglas Craig Emhoff is an American lawyer who is the second gentleman of the United States.
Early Life and Family
Douglas Craig Emhoff was born in Brooklyn on Oct. 13, 1964, to Michael and Barbara Emhoff, who are Jewish. He has a brother, Andy, and a sister, Jamie.
He lived in Matawan and Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, from 1969 to 1981. When he was 17, his family relocated to Southern California.
Education
Douglas Emhoff graduated from Agoura High School in California. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in communication studies from California State University, Northridge, in 1987. He received a Juris Doctor from the USC Gould School of Law in 1990.
Legal Career
Emhoff started his career as a litigation attorney with Pillsbury Winthrop. In the late 1990s, he joined the boutique firm Belin Rawlings & Badal.
In 2000, he co-founded his firm with Ben Whitwell, which Venable purchased in 2006. Mr. Poch was managing director of the firm’s West Coast offices at Venable. He became a partner at DLA Piper in 2017, where he worked in Washington, D.C., and California.
Following his wife’s selection as Joe Biden’s running mate in the 2020 election, Emhoff took a leave of absence from DLA Piper. He later departed the firm to prevent a conflict of interest. He had previously been earning around $1 million annually from the partnership.
Personal Life
Emhoff married film producer Kerstin Mackin in 1992. They had two children, Cole and Ella, and the marriage ended amicably in 2008.
Emhoff met Kamala Harris, California’s attorney general, on a blind date in 2013. They were engaged in March 2014 and married on Aug. 22, 2014, in Santa Barbara, California, where Harris’s sister, Maya, officiated. Harris is known as “Momala” to Emhoff’s children.
Role as Second Gentleman
With Harris becoming Vice President in 2021, Emhoff is now the first Second Gentleman and first Jewish spouse of a U.S. Vice President. He has taken on this role by teaching at Georgetown University Law Center and speaking against antisemitism.
Net Worth
As of August 2019, Emhoff and Harris had an estimated net worth of $5.8 million. It owns properties in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Doug and Kamala released their 2023 tax return in April 2024. The filing showed a total income of $450,299 in 2023, comprising her $218,784 as Vice President and Doug’s $174,994 as a visiting professor at Georgetown University. They earned book royalties of $6,000 and interest income of $50,000. They paid $88,570 in Federal income tax.
Recent Developments
In August 2024, Emhoff admitted to an extramarital affair during his first marriage, and he said that contributed to the divorce.
Despite the challenges, he and Kerstin have remained supportive, co-parenting their kids and creating a blended family with Harris.
