Agoura High Graduate Doug Emhoff Becomes First Second Gentleman

AGOURA HILLS, CA — As Vice President Kamala Harris became the first woman and woman of color to be sworn in as vice president, her husband, Agoura High School graduate Doug Emhoff, became the nation's first Second Gentleman. He also became the first male and Jewish spouse of an American president or vice president.

The 56-year-old entertainment lawyer was born in Brooklyn, and spent most of his childhood in New Jersey, before moving to Agoura Hills when he was 17. In 1982, he graduated from Agoura High, where he was a member of the ski and backpacking clubs, varsity tennis team, and school newspaper staff, according to the 1982 yearbook.

"Agoura High School is incredibly proud to be the alma mater of Doug Emhoff," principal Stephanie McClay told The Acorn. "Mr. Emhoff is our first high profile graduate, to my knowledge, in the national political scene. We certainly wish him well in his groundbreaking role as Second Gentleman of the United States."

Many years later in 2017, Harris met with 25 girls attending nearby A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas when she was a keynote speaker for a Girls Build L.A. Promise Fund event at the Convention Center. Las Virgenes Unified School District Superintendent Dan Stepenosky told The Acorn that Harris spoke to the girls backstage after the event.

"As soon as she saw the middle school girls, she stopped everything, came over to say hello and to talk to the girls," Stepenosky said. "She was so incredibly warm and gracious."

After graduating Agoura High School, Emhoff went on to attend Cal State Northridge and University of Southern California Gould School of Law. He worked as an entertainment litigator for a number of firms, most recently DLA Piper, where he worked in its Washington and Los Angeles offices. He stepped down from his role before Inauguration Day to avoid conflict of interest concerns, according to an Associated Press report. In December, Georgetown University Law Center announced that Emhoff would join the school's faculty as a lecturer at the Institute for Technology Law and Policy.

Emhoff met Kamala Harris on a blind date arranged by one of his clients, and the two married in Santa Barbara in 2014 in a ceremony officiated by Harris's sister Maya. "The moment I met Kamala, I knew I was in love," Emhoff wrote in an article published Tuesday in GQ. "Not just because of who she is—the warm, funny, and compassionate woman who grounds our family—but also because of the deep resolve with which she fights for the causes she believes in."

This was Harris' first marriage, but Emhoff was previously married to film producer Kerstin Merck, with whom he had two children, Cole and Ella, who call Harris "Momala."

Emhoff has kept a low profile during Harris's campaigns for the Senate, the presidency, and the vice presidency. Perhaps his most high-profile moment came in San Francisco in 2019, when he jumped on stage to defend his wife against a heckler attempting to grab the microphone away from her.

Other than that, he has enthusiastically supported his wife by attending rallies, calling voters, and tweeting messages of support. On Wednesday, Twitter created for Emhoff the first official @SecondGentleman White House account, which as of Wednesday afternoon has no tweets.

Emhoff said that he grew closer to his wife by following her around the campaign trail."

"I found that as I began dipping my toe into Kamala’s world, it brought us even closer together. I realized how much of yourself you leave on the trail, how much these stories weigh on you, and—though I couldn’t imagine it possible before this—I grew to understand and admire who she is and what she’s been able to accomplish even more," he wrote in the GQ essay, entitled "I Might Be The First Second Gentleman, But I Don't Want To Be The Last."

"I am honored to be the first male spouse of an American President or Vice President," Emhoff continued. "But here’s the truth: generations of women before me have used this platform to advocate for causes they believe in and build trust in our institutions at home and abroad—often without much accolade or acknowledgment. It’s on their shoulders I stand. And it’s their legacy of progress I will try to build on as Second Gentleman."