Health and Wellness
Photos of Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff over the years
California Attorney General Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff (Photo: Chelsea Lauren/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)
On August 22, 2014, then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris married lawyer and divorcee Douglas Emhoff at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. Maya, the younger sister of the future vice chairman of the United States, was a civil servant. As Emhoff said in his moving speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, the 12 months before their wedding, the two had been arrange on a blind date. And before the event, he called her at 8:30 a.m. to attempt to make a great first impression.
“I got Kamala’s voicemail and started babbling,” he recalled. “‘Hey, it’s Doug. I’m going to an early meeting. I repeat, it’s Doug.’ I was trying to pick the words out of thin air and just put them back in my mouth.”
Fortunately, Harris wasn’t delay by the voicemail. In fact, she still has it.
“By the way, Kamala saved this voicemail for me and makes me listen to it every anniversary,” he joked to a packed house at The United Center in Chicago.
The two are celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary, an incredible milestone at a rare time for Harris. She’s running for the highest office in the land, and Emhoff, America’s second gentleman (and his children, Cole and Ella), have been by her side the entire time, praising her every step of the way.
“She’s a wonderful wife who loves me,” Emhoff said earlier. PEOPLE“She focuses on me as much as I focus on her. Maybe I’m a little more public about it.”
“Behind the scenes, she’s just a wonderful, caring, loving wife and a great mom, aunt, friend,” he added. “She loves to laugh, which is a good thing. She loves to cook, she loves music. And so she’s just someone who’s a great partner in every sense of the word.”
The couple also opened up about their morning and evening check-ins. “…at the end of every day, find a way to check in, no matter how tired you are or how many miles separate you, even if it’s just at the end of the day, and say ‘I love you,’” Harris told PEOPLE in 2023.
We love their connection, and now that we comprehend it, we love their love story too. As they have a good time 10 years of love and marriage, take a look at some of our favourite photos of the couple.
CULVER CITY, CA – DECEMBER 4: California Attorney General Kamala Harris (left) and her attorney husband Douglas Emhoff attend the twenty fourth annual Beat the Odds Awards Gala presented by the Children’s Defense Fund at The Book Bindery on December 4, 2014 in Culver City, California. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – FEBRUARY 22: California Attorney General Kamala Harris (R) and her attorney husband Douglas Emhoff attend the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Graydon Carter at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 22, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)
UNITED STATES – JANUARY 03: Vice President Joe Biden administers the oath of office to Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, during a swearing-in ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber of the Capitol on January 03, 2017. Her husband Douglas Emhoff holds a Bible. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
OAKLAND, CA – JANUARY 27: Senator Kamala Harris poses for a photograph with her husband Douglas Emhoff before a campaign rally in Oakland, California, on Sunday, January 27, 2019. Joe Biden announced on Tuesday, August 11, 2020, that he has chosen Harris as his vice presidential running mate. (Gabrielle Lurie/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
DES MOINES, IOWA – AUGUST 10: Douglas Emhoff, husband of Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), takes a selfie before delivering a campaign speech at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair on August 10, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa. Twenty-two of the 23 politicians searching for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination will visit the fair this week, six months before the crucial Iowa primary. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
TOP PHOTO – California Senator and Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff stand on stage at the end of the third day of the Democratic National Convention, which is being held virtually amid the coronavirus pandemic, at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware, August 19, 2020. (Photo by Olivier DOULIERY/AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – NOVEMBER 2: Democratic vice presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) and her husband Douglas Emhoff embrace on stage after Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden spoke at a simultaneous drive-in rally in Pittsburgh on November 2, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, continues to be leading President Donald Trump by about six points, in accordance with a recent polling average. With the election coming up tomorrow, Trump held 4 rallies in Pennsylvania over the weekend as he battles to regain the Keystone State’s 20 crucial electoral votes. In 2016, he won Pennsylvania by just 44,292 votes out of greater than 6 million solid, or lower than 1 percent, becoming the first Republican to win there since 1988. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 12: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff join participants in the Capital Pride Parade on June 12, 2021 in Washington, D.C. Capital Pride returned to Washington after being canceled last 12 months resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 23: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (L) kisses her husband Doug Emhoff after speaking at a campaign rally marking the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision that invalidated federal abortion rights at the Mayflower Hotel on June 23, 2023 in Washington, DC. The campaign event was organized by NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood Action Fund and EMILY’s List. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (left) and her husband Douglas Emhoff arrive in the Booksellers Room of the White House for a state dinner with the President of Kenya at the White House in Washington, May 23, 2024. (Photo: SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)