Kamala Harris is facing off against Donald Trump tonight in the first presidential debate. But she’ll be sure to have two fans cheering her on: Ella and Cole Emhoff, her two stepchildren.
The 59-year-old shares her stepkids with husband Doug Emhoff, also 59, and altogether, they make a pretty sweet blended family. Here’s everything to know about her family and stepchildren:
Harris became a stepmom when she married Emhoff.
He had two children from his previous marriage, Cole, 30, and Ella, 25. They were named after John Coltrane (Cole) and Ella Fitzgerald (Ella), Kamala wrote in an essay for Elle.
She gave them a shoutout in her victory speech on Nov. 7, 2020: “And to my husband Doug and our children Cole and Ella and my sister Maya and our whole family, I love y’all more than I can ever express.”
Harris got along with the kids immediately: “Cole and Ella could not have been more welcoming. They are brilliant, talented, funny kids who have grown to be remarkable adults. I was already hooked on Doug, but I believe it was Cole and Ella who reeled me in.”
She and Emhoff married on Aug. 22, 2014 in a private ceremony at the Santa Barbara Courthouse, according to The Chronicle. Her sister Maya Harris presided over the ceremony.
She’s clearly a big fan of her stepkids. “They are my endless source of love and pure joy,” she wrote for the publication. “I can say one thing with certainty, my heart wouldn’t be whole, nor my life full, without them.”
She waited to meet the kids until she was serious with their dad.
Harris says she didn’t rush into meeting his children, per her essay for Elle. “Doug and I put a lot of thought into when and how I would first meet the kids. And that meant waiting. As we waited, anticipation grew.”
Doug shares his children with Kerstin Emhoff, a film producer and founder of the production company Prettybird. They were married for over 15 years before their divorce was finalized in 2010.
Cole and Ella say ‘it was love at first sight’ with Harris.
During a Zoom call with Emhoff, Cole, and Ella with Glamour, the kids opened up more about the first time they met Harris.
“I think for all of us, it was love at first sight. We had an incredible evening at one of my favorite restaurants—The Reel Inn. We had a long drive down the Pacific Coast Highway, sharing music. I got to know her first on a much more personal level—her music tastes, her cooking, how she interacts with Doug, which was hilarious. She would just be ribbing him. It was perfect,” Cole said.
“Over time, I got a sense of who she was and her career up to that point. It gave me a new understanding of what she’s been able to accomplish, and I was so impressed.”
Ella added: “I think when we met her, I was about to go into high school, so I was in an equally intense time, but for different, more angsty reasons. It felt serious when he was just talking about her, because I could hear it in his voice.”
“When we did meet, it all felt so natural that it wasn’t even a big deal. It felt like we had known each other forever,” she added. “And I think what was important was getting to know her as a person first—a person before a politician.”
Harris worked hard on her relationship with her stepkids.
In an essay for Elle, the VP has shared that she put in a lot of effort to make sure her stepkids knew she respected them and could take whatever time they needed to get used to her.
“As a child of divorce, I knew how hard it could be when your parents start to date other people,” Harris wrote. “And I was determined not to insert myself in their lives until Doug and I had established we were in this for the long haul… There’s nothing worse than disappointing a child.”
She shared that the first time she met Cole and Ella she “picked up a tin of cookies and tied a ribbon in a bow around them,” but worried they might find the gesture “weird” or “too much.”
Apparently, though, they loved it.
Her stepkids picked the name ‘Momala.’
Harris wrote in in an essay for Elle that the word “stepmom” didn’t feel like a good fit for her family. “Cole, Ella, and I agreed that we didn’t like the term ‘stepmom,'” she said. “Instead, they came up with the name ‘Momala.'” And, it stuck.
Harris used the term at the Democratic National Convention in Aug. 2020. “I’ve had a lot of titles over my career,” she said in her speech. “But ‘Momala’ will always be the one that means the most.” (Worth noting: #Momala started trending on Twitter soon after.)
Ella also used the term when introducing Harris before her speech. “You’re a rock, not just for our dad, but for three generations of our big blended family,” Ella added.
Her stepson Cole Emhoff works in entertainment in LA.
He attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO, and graduated with a degree in psychology in 2017. Now, he lives in Los Angeles metropolitan area, according to his LinkedIn profile. He’s worked on Academy Award-winning films like Minari and Women Talking , per his IMDb page.
Doug and Kamala never miss a chance to share their support for Cole. In Sept. 2021, the pair wished Cole a happy 27th birthday on Twitter. “To my pal, son, and fantasy football partner, we’re all so proud of you. Happy birthday, Cole!” Doug wrote. “Love Dad and Momala.” Kamala added, “Happy birthday to our son, Cole! We love you and we are proud of you!”
Cole got married in 2023.
In October 2023, Cole married his longtime love Greenley Littlejohn in downtown Los Angeles. Harris officiated the nuptials, telling People that “it was so wonderful that the kids asked me to do it.”
In 2022, Cole proposed to Greenley in front of a bonfire, per CBS News. At the time, Doug said the family was “really excited” about the engagement.
Harris has cheered Ella on in swim meets and basketball games.
While Ella was attending high school, Harris called herself a “cheerleader” and showed up to as many athletic events as she could.
Ella attended Parsons School of Design.
She graduated from high school in 2017 and went on to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Apparel and Textiles at The New School, per her LinkedIn profile. Kamala wasn’t able to make it to the ceremony to watch her walk because it conflicted with testimony from FBI Director James Comey before the Senate Intelligence Committee about his firing and the Russia investigation.
“Congratulations to our daughter Ella on her graduation,” Kamala wrote on Instagram. “I am so proud of you. Keep dreaming with ambition and there is nothing you cannot achieve. Love, Momala.”
Last February, Ella celebrated her one-year anniversary with Samuel Hine, an editor at GQ magazine. “One big ole year with sammy,” she captioned an IG post. “To many many many more years cutie <3 u.” It looks like the two are still together (and about to celebrate anniversary No. 2) because she posted him in a video five weeks ago.
Ella made her New York Fashion Week modeling debut in 2021.
After signing with IMG Models, the second daughter walked in Proenza Schouler’s COVID-safe show on Feb. 18, 2021, per People. Ella revealed she “lost sleep” the night before the live-streamed runway show in a video interview with the designers, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez.
“I mean I’m walking for the first time, I’m in a professional environment for the first time… It was a very epic first experience with the fashion world,” she said. She’s not giving up on her dream of being a fashion designer, though. “I want to see guys, girls, people, everyone wearing striped colorful pants or my dresses. I think that’d be great.”
Ella has continued modeling, most recently walking in New York Fashion Week in September.
Ella shares her designs on the ‘gram.
She’s quite nimble with knitting needles. In fact, she’s knitted some impressive sweaters, shorts, and pants. Ella also accepts custom commissions via her website.
She even released her very own line of knitwear. “Mark your calendars,” Ella captioned an IG post in Jan. 2022. “First knit drop is coming end of March/ early April from then on I’ll be doing drops once a month :P.”
She has certainly pursued this passion project, because in this IG, she’s modeling a skirt she knit herself:
Cole and Ella are adjusting to seeing their dad in the spotlight.
“My favorite thing is if you scroll back through Doug’s Instagram, you can see the progression from quintessential ‘Dad’ with, like, 10 followers—like, a selfie shot right under his face—to having hundreds of thousands of followers and legitimately being good at it,” Cole told The New York Times.
Ella added, “Yeah, it’s weird for us to see the change from going from this, like, normal, regular shmegular ‘Doug.'”
Apparently, their dad and stepmom are ‘vomit-inducingly cute.’
Cole has shared more about what Harris and Emhoff are like as a couple. “It depends on the setting. Because Doug and Kamala together are like almost vomit-inducingly cute and coupley. I’m like, ‘When is this going to wear off?'” he told the New York Times.
Ella added, “It’s so insane. It’s like the honeymoon phase forever. Like, the rest of the world gets to see it on social media, but we live that.”
That honeymoon phase was on full display when Harris appeared on TODAY on Feb. 17, 2021, and naturally her family came up. Host Savannah Guthrie asked about the “strangest” part of the VP’s new normal.
“You know, my husband and I look at each other, and I say, you know, ‘You’re the second gentleman of the United States.’ He says, ‘You’re the vice president of the United States.’ We both kind of smile, then we get back to work,” Harris replied.
They both knew Emhoff would be an amazing Second Gentleman.
“I think Doug is a bit of a chameleon, and that’s why everyone loves him. Like, he can fit in in any room,” Cole told NYT. “I think of all people, Doug was like randomly born for this.”
And Ella agreed: “He’s a good talker.”
Ella also hopes his new role will allow him a new kind of freedom from work. “I hope he takes up another hobby. I hope he starts knitting, like I do. I think it’ll be a good time for him to slow down and just, I don’t know, like appreciate life. And tap into a lot of the things that he couldn’t do because he was working so much or had these time constraints,” she told NYT. “I hope that it opens up some of those creative outlets, but that’s obviously just me, the creative child.”
Family dinners are super important.
Sunday nights were reserved for family dinners, at least that used to be the case before she became the V.P. Everyone had a role for the special get-together, according to Harris.
She explained to Elle: “Our time as a family is Sunday dinner. We come together, all of us around the table, and over time we’ve fallen into our roles. Cole sets the table and picks the music, Ella makes beautiful desserts, Doug acts as my sous-chef, and I cook.”
Now, the family has a weekly Zoom call together.
Emhoff also shared with Glamour that he, Harris, and the kids have a weekly Zoom call on Sundays.
“We have a Sunday zoom, and we talk during the week. Not as much as I’d like, but we talk. But when you’re on the road like this and you see what’s going on in other people’s families, it just gives you so much time to reflect. It’s really opened my eyes, frankly,” Doug said.
Harris is also friends with Emhoff’s ex-wife, Kerstin.
In an August 2020 interview with People, Kamala also shared that she has a close relationship with Emhoff’s ex-wife Kerstin. “We’re a very modern family. Their mom is a close friend of mine,” she told the publication.
Kerstin later opened up to Marie Claire about their relationship. She was impressed with Harris when she learned her ex-husband, Doug, was dating her. “I just thought, ‘Wow, that’s cool. Don’t mess this up!'” she said. Kerstin also revealed that she volunteered her services to Harris’ presidential bid before it ended in 2019.
During an interview with Dana Bash, Harris also shared that Kerstin was “key” to her relationship with Cole and Ella.
“One of the keys to my relationship with Cole and Ella is their mom,” she said. “We are friends… The thing about blended families—if everyone approaches it in the way that there’s plenty of love to share, then it works.”
Emhoff joined the Georgetown Law faculty.
After the 2020 election, a spokesperson for the couple told the Washington Post that Emhoff planned to leave his private law practice in the entertainment industry to move to Washington, D.C. and focus on his role in the Biden-Harris Administration. He’s become close friends with former Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden, who has continued teaching at Northern Virginia Community College since becoming the First Lady, per The White House website.
After officially leaving his law practice, Emhoff served as a Distinguished Visitor from Practice at Georgetown Law. He taught a class in entertainment law in March of 2021, according to Insider.
“Look, it’s odd the second gentleman is their teacher,” he explained to People. “But we kind of dispensed with that. It was maybe five minutes in the first class. Now, it’s just they want to learn, they want to be great lawyers, and I’m trying to impart to them experiences as a lawyer.”
He also encourages more politicians like his wife. “I want more women in office, and I want more partners, whoever their partner is, to support them and to provide an opportunity and an environment for success,” Emhoff told NowThis in October of 2021, per the Post.
Kamala taught her niece, Meena, to be ambitious.
Kamala’s niece, Meena, 37, is the daughter of Kamala’s sister Maya Harris. Meena is a lawyer, activist, and author of a children’s book titled Ambitious Girl, which was written to teach young girls that it’s okay to follow their biggest dreams.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize that not everyone sees ambition the same way my family does,” Meena wrote in an essay for Elle. “In the Harris household, ambition means courage. It means living your purpose. But to a whole lot of other people, ambition—women’s ambition, that is—is code for taking up space that wasn’t intended to be yours.”
Meena is a mother of two, and hopes that female ambition will be reframed in schools, which are places “where girls tend to be given more praise than boys for doing things the ‘right’ way—neatly, quietly, when it’s ‘their turn,'” she writes. “As my aunt showed us last week, when we encourage ambitious girls, they become ambitious women. And ambitious women can break barriers, shatter ceilings, and win.”
Meena is the founder of the Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign.
Have you ever seen a t-shirt that says “Phenomenal Woman” or “Phenomenally Black”? Inspired by the words of Maya Angelou, the merch campaign was started by Meena Harris, and has attracted ambassadors like Serena Williams, Jessica Alba, Janelle Monae, Yara Shahidi, Lizzo, and Cecile Richards. She imagined the campaign would sell 1,000 t-shirts total, but it ended up selling 2,500 on the first day alone, and now makes merch around themes of female ambition.
“By partnering with a variety of non-profit beneficiaries, the campaign covers the following wide range of policy issues: educational excellence and healthcare equity; criminal justice reform; gender parity in STEM; reproductive health; and political representation,” Meena told Vogue Australia. “Not only did we reach a wider audience this way, it also meant that we could educate new audiences, specifically about lesser-known organizations doing critical work just as impactful as the high-profile ones.”
Harris’ grand-nieces joined her after the victory speech.
In addition to her husband and other family members, Harris brought two very special guests on stage at her 2021 inauguration: her two grand-nieces.
The adorable young girls holding Harris’ hands at her victory speech belong to her niece, Meena.
Ella and Cole participated in the 2024 DNC.
Helena Hudlin, Meena Harris, and Ella Emhoff speak during the 2024 DNC.
During the 2024 Democratic National Convention, both Ella and Cole Emhoff supported their stepmom. Ella joined Helena Hudlin and Meena Harris to speak on-stage about her stepmom.
“Kamala came into my life when I was 14—famously a very easy time for a teenager,” she said. “Like a lot of young people, I didn’t always understand what I was feeling, but no matter what, Kamala was there for me. She was patient, caring, and always took me seriously. She’s never stopped listening to me, and she’s not going to stop listening to all of us.”
Cole Emhoff introduces his father, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
Cole, meanwhile, introduced his father and also narrated a sweet pre-recorded video.
“My parents split when I was in middle school, and that wasn’t easy. That’s not easy for any kid, but it helped that my parents stayed friends, and we all kept hanging together. We grew closer than ever,” Cole said in the video. “And then he met Kamala, the blind date that would dramatically change all of our lives forever.”
“We might not look like other families in the White House, but we are ready to represent all families in America,” he added.
Jennifer Nied is the fitness editor at Women’s Health and has more than 10 years of experience in health and wellness journalism. She’s always out exploring—sweat-testing workouts and gear, hiking, snowboarding, running, and more—with her husband, daughter, and dog.
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