After President Joe Biden announced he isn’t seeking reelection, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic party’s presidential nominee. Now, let’s get to know her family.
Kamala Harris made history in 2021 as the first woman, Black American, and South Asian American to be the U.S. Vice President. She aims to become the first female president.
Before her vice presidency, Harris was the District Attorney of San Francisco and then California Attorney General. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2017.
Kamala Harris is the daughter of Donald J. Harris and the late Shyamala Gopalan. She has a sister, Maya Harris, and is married to Doug Emhoff. She’s also a loving ‘Momala’ to her stepchildren, Cole and Ella Emhoff.
“It is one of my favorite titles being Momala,” Harris said in 2023. She values co-parenting and embraces her stepchildren as her own.
Kamala’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was born in southern India in 1938. Her father, Donald J. Harris, was born in Jamaica the same year. They met in 1962 at the University of California, Berkeley, and married in 1963. They had Kamala in 1964 and Maya in 1967.
Shyamala was a notable breast cancer researcher, while Donald became a professor of economics at Stanford. They divorced when Kamala was five, with Shyamala taking a leading role in raising her daughters.
Doug Emhoff, Kamala’s husband, was born in Brooklyn in 1964 and raised in New Jersey. He moved to LA as a teen and became a litigator. They met in 2013 on a blind date and married in 2014. Emhoff is the first-ever second gentleman and the first Jewish spouse of an American president or vice president.
Doug has two children from his previous marriage, Cole and Ella Emhoff. Cole remembers meeting Kamala fondly, saying, “I met her and we had this amazing dinner.” He works for a production company and married Greenley Littlejohn in 2023, with Kamala officiating their wedding.
Ella Emhoff, born in 1999, is a multidisciplinary artist and model. She introduced Kamala at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Ella graduated from Parson’s School of Design and works as a fabricator and founder of her own company.
Kamala’s sister, Maya Harris, has been a close support throughout her life. Maya served as Kamala’s campaign chairperson during her 2020 presidential run and continues to support her.
Maya Harris is married to Tony West, Chief Legal Officer at Uber, and they have a daughter named Meena Harris. Meena is an attorney and founder of Phenomenal, a media company. She is also a best-selling children’s book author and mother of two.
Kamala Harris’s family is as diverse and accomplished as she is. Their support has been vital throughout her groundbreaking career.
As Kamala Harris sets her sights on making history once more, she does so with the unwavering support of her remarkable family.
