Ultimate "wife guy" and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff took the Democratic National Convention (DNC) stage on Tuesday, giving a touching speech about his wife, Democratic nominee for president and Vice President Kamala Harris, and pulling back the curtain on their romantic relationship.
After being introduced by his son, Cole Emhoff, via a video produced by his ex-wife, Kirsten (who has been wildly supportive of her ex and Harris), Emhoff opened up about meeting Harris for the first time and what she now makes him do every year on their wedding anniversary as a result.
“In 2013 I walked into a contentious client meeting, we worked through the issue, and by the end of the meeting, the now happy client offered to set me up on a blind date,” Emhoff said.
(For the uninitiated, the proud of two famously quit his job as a lawyer to better support his wife's political career.)
“Which is how I ended up with Kamala Harris’ phone number," he continued, before detailing the odd time he decided to give Harris a call to set up an in-person date.
“Now for generations, people have debated when to call the person you’re being set up with, and never in history, has anyone suggested, 8:30 am. And yet that’s when I dialed," he said. “I got Kamala voicemail, and I just started rambling, 'Hey, it’s Doug. I’m on my way to an early meeting. Again. It’s Doug.'
"I remember I was trying to grab the words out of the air and just put them back in my mouth," he continued. “By the way, Kamala saved that voicemail. And she makes me listen to it on every anniversary."
The pair first met in 2013, three years after his divorce from Kerstin Emhoff was finalized. At the time, Doug was a single dad of two teenagers, Cole and Ella, who were 19 and 15 by the time Doug Emhoff and Harris walked down the wedding aisle in 2014.
“I trusted Kamala with our family’s future,” Doug Emhoff said on the DNC stage on Tuesday night, adding that it was the “best decision” he ever made.
“This Thursday will be our 10th wedding anniversary, which I know, I know it means I’m about to hear that embarrassing voicemail again,” he continued. “However, that’s not all I’ll be hearing that same night. I’ll be hearing my wife Kamala Harris accept your nomination for president of the United States.”
Emhoff has been praised for his very public, very unapologetic support of his wife, and in his touching DNC speech spoke about her role as not only vice president but as stepmom to his two children.
"A few days ago, there was a brief window when Kamala was back at home. I saw her sitting on her favorite chair and—in the middle of a wild month—I hoped that she was finally having a quiet moment to herself," he explained. "Then I realized she was on the phone. My mind went to all the potential crises the vice president could be dealing with. Was it domestic? Foreign? The campaign? She was focused, and all I knew was that it must be about something important. Turns out it was. Ella had called.
"That's Kamala. Those kids are her priorities," he continued. "And that scene was a perfect map of her heart. She's always been there for our children, and I know she'll always be there for yours, too."
