Kamala Harris has a KHive. Now meet D-Unit, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, the diehard fan.
Call them First Gentlehive, Emhunks, Doug House—D-Unit. The extremely online community has spoken: Doug Emhoff, husband of Kamala Harris, is the internet’s newest boyfriend. Many are digging Doug, with a group of Em-issaries emerging as an offshoot of Harris’s loyal KHive.
The election may not be until November, but the second gentleman is winning over social media users. “I need Gen Z to see this photo of Kamala’s husband in the ’80s and make him TikTok’s white guy of the month,” read a tweet with more than 2.2 million views, accompanied by a blurry photo of a young Emhoff with a serious expression.
“Doug Emhoff shouldn’t be texting me long paragraphs if he wants money,” another tweet read“He should send rare photos of himself from the 80s.”
Another joked“Enjoy Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff’s bisexual craze of the 80s,” accompanied by separate photos of the couple.
Decades later, Emhoff has become a second gentleman, the embodiment of his goofy father figure, waving to his wife at the State of the Union address with such enthusiasm that he made her laugh, on another occasion, blowing kiss after kiss from the House gallery and waved his arms.
By this time, Emhoff had solidified his role as a Professional Wife, and he had proven himself to be the best in his field. Back in 2020, he had Biden-Harris campaign email signature as “Doug Emhoff (Kamala’s Husband),” and is doing tricks in front of the camera in a shirt with his wife’s name printed on the chest. He is truly a wife’s guy, to the point where he is also an ex-wife’s guy. Kerstin Emhoff, with whom Doug has two children, Kid, little girl And Cole, felt compelled to speak out in defense of Kamala Harris after the Republican vice presidential nominee JD VanceThe 2021 thought of ‘politicians without biological children’ (in short: How dare they?) has recently resurfaced.
“These are baseless attacks,” Kerstin said in a statement“For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent to Doug and me. She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.”
Doug even won the cross-stitch vote, with A sample, posted for digital download, claims“I can’t wait to see what Douglas does with the tree!” she said, referring to Christmas at the White House, where lavish decorations traditionally fall under the jurisdiction of the first lady.
Her husband’s turn as the internet’s boyfriend is another chapter in the story of Harris and social media, which began before the 2020 election cycle, when the then-California senator was floated as a potential presidential candidate. In a three-month period studied by AxiosSocial media posts featuring Harris had the most engagement when compared to other Democratic candidates, with Harris garnering about three times more online engagement Joe Biden did. Her campaign, in just over a week since she inherited it, has quickly captured viral moments, like the singer Charli XCX declared “Kamala is a spoiled brat” and pairing Chappell Roan“Femininomeno” by with clips of the vice president looking competent.
Doug is also a reliable source of relief in an election where the landscape seems to change dramatically by the day. For example, he revealed that when his wife learned that Biden was suspending his re-election campaign, he was unreachable, had no phone, and sweated through an hour-long SoulCycle class in West Hollywood, then grabbed a bite to eat afterward, when he learned of Biden’s announcement.
“Of course I didn’t have a phone, so I ran and got in the car, and of course my phone caught fire, and it was basically, ‘Call Kamala,’ ‘Call Kamala,’ ‘Call Kamala,’ from everyone,” he said during an organizing call for gay and queer black advocates Harris. “And of course, the first thing she said was, ‘Where are you? I need you.’”
