A New First: the Second Gentleman

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Vice President Kamala Harris at the Presidential inauguration. Source: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

With Kamala Harris marking a historic first entering the role of Vice President, she has also created the need for a new one: Second Gentleman of the United States. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, is the first Second Gentleman in American history, taking over the role from former Vice President Pence’s wife, Karen Pence. While it is not an official governmental position, many second spouses have made the most of their prominent positions and left a mark on the office and the country. 

Long obscure and undefined, the role of second spouse has become increasingly prominent over the past century, in part due to the work of Pat Nixon, wife of then Vice President Richard Nixon, during the Eisenhower administration. She attended charity events and fulfilled the expected role of hostess, but also travelled the world with her husband as an ambassador for the United States, participating in official functions as a dignitary and visiting schools, orphanages, and hospitals to raise awareness. Most recently, Karen Pence advocated for the Trump administration’s suicide prevention initiatives for veterans and as an ambassador for art therapy while working part time as an art teacher at a local school in Virginia. Before her, Dr. Jill Biden, now first lady, worked as an advocate for community college education and for the White Houses’ Joining Forces initiative while working as a community college instructor; she was the first second lady to maintain a paying job while taking on the duties of second lady. So who is Doug Emhoff, and how might he take on his new role?

Emhoff, like Vice President Harris, comes from a legal background. He graduated with his law degree from USC’s Gould School of Law and has worked in California as a prominent attorney in entertainment and commercial law, most recently as a partner at DLA Piper. While the scope of his work is broad, he is perhaps best known to the general public for representing TBWA, the advertising agency responsible for ads involving Taco Bell’s “Psycho Chihuahua” character used in the 90s, against Taco Bell in a dispute over the character and for copyright work around the viral New York “pizza rat” on behalf of Jukin Media.

Emhoff met Harris, then Attorney General of California, on a blind date in 2013 and the couple hit it off, marrying the next year. In 2016, he played the role of adoring and supportive spouse as Harris campaigned for Senator and he could be seen glowing with pride while holding the Bible as Vice President Biden swore in Harris as the newest senator from California. During the 2020 election, Emhoff took on a more active role campaigning on his wife’s behalf, making stops throughout the country.

After it became clear that Biden and Harris had won the election, Emhoff announced that he would be stepping down from his position at DLA Piper. Concerns had been raised about potential conflicts of interest for the vice president given her husband’s employment, because of DLA Piper’s lobbying work and Emhoff’s past work representing companies like Merck and Walmart. Emhoff will not be unemployed as second gentleman, however. Like Karen Pence and Dr. Jill Biden before him, he will work as an educator, teaching at the Georgetown University Law Center. He has not made clear what his top priorities as second gentleman will be, but he recognises the big shoes he has to fill, and has committed to emulating those who came before him, visiting the Library of Congress to learn about former second ladies before the inauguration. He has also made clear that he wants to model the role for future first gentlemen, saying that he does not intend to be the last