In Doug Emhoff, the Harris campaign sees a skilled surrogate with wide appeal
Second gentleman Douglas Emhoff at the Democratic National Convention. Photo by Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh September 3, 2024
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff implored Jewish voters on Tuesday to throw themselves into the campaign to elect his wife.
“Our Jewish community is absolutely vital to electing Kamala Harris as our next president and Tim Walz as our next vice president,” Emhoff said in brief remarks on a virtual call hosted by the Harris campaign for Jewish supporters. “Over the next nine weeks, we all need to do everything we can to win.”
Expect to hear much more from Emhoff in the coming weeks. The Harris-Walz campaign has pegged him as an effective campaigner — and not just to lure Jewish voters, who represent a tiny sliver of the electorate (about 2%).
Emhoff, 59, has maintained a hectic schedule since Harris replaced President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket in July. He has crisscrossed the country, headlining dozens of campaign events and fundraisers. At the same time the second gentleman serves as the face of the administration’s campaign to combat domestic antisemitism and its spokesperson at important gatherings of Jewish Americans.
He identified more emotionally and personally with the American Jewish community Tuesday night than he perhaps ever had. At a memorial service at Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C., for Hersh Goldberg-Polin and the other hostages killed by Hamas days before, he spoke of his grief, pausing at one point to retain his composure.
“This is hard. This is raw. I’m gutted,” he told the thousands watching in the synagogue and online. “I stand before you, yes, as the second gentleman of the United States and the first Jewish principal ever in the White House. But in this moment, I’m here as a fellow congregant, a fellow mourner, and as a Jew who feels connected to all of you.”
Eric Waldo, who served as executive director of Michelle Obama’s initiative to get students to pursue education past high school, compared Emhoff’’s relatability to the former first lady’s. She “was not coming off or sounding like a trained politician,” Waldo said. “She sounded like a real person. And I think that Emhoff has that ability as well.”
Emhoff’s folksy convention speech was a case in point, he continued, because he seemed genuine and shared personal experiences. “People don’t want to hear about politics,” Waldo said. “They want to hear about humanity and our shared humanity, and I think Emhoff is such a great vehicle for that.”
But Emhoff’s appeal can resonate especially strongly with Jewish voters.
Andrew Weinstein, co-chair of Lawyers for Harris and a Biden administration official at the United Nations, said that Emhoff’s professional experience as a lawyer and his three and a half years as second gentleman have honed his public speaking skills and deepened his understanding of complex issues, including those important to the Jewish community. For the campaign, he said, Emhoff is the bridge that can connect with Jewish voters on a personal level while also reassuring that their concerns are heard at the highest levels of government.
Emhoff connects to other Jewish Americans
In front of Jewish crowds, Emhoff frequently talks about his deep connection to his Jewishness. Since Harris won the vice presidency, he has showcased his Jewish heritage by baking matzo with Jewish day school kids, for example, and affixing mezuzahs on the doorposts of the vice president’s residence, where the couple hosted a Passover Seder and celebrated Hanukkah.
Emhoff has also reassured Jewish voters after Oct. 7, through emotional and political turmoil and rising antisemitism, said Amy Spitalnick, chief executive of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
“Emhoff has embraced this role, leaning into Jewish identity and Jewish joy at a time when that really matters,” she said. “He brings a deeply personal angle to all of this that resonates deeply with many Jewish Americans.”
Or as Eric Schultz, a former Obama spokesperson, put it: “At a time when the Jewish community is feeling incredibly anxious, it means the world to know that one of our own has a seat at the table,” he said. “He’s a character validator for Kamala in the most personal of terms.”
Emhoff told Jewish voters on Tuesday’s call that “it’s been such an honor to bring Jewish joy into the vice president’s residence,” and added: “I’m looking forward to bringing our joy and our culture into the White House and sharing it with the American people.”
The 45-minute call also featured remarks by Reps. Kathy Manning of North Carolina and Jamie Raskin of Maryland, and Jewish comedian Alex Edelman.
The Harris campaign formally launched its Jewish voter outreach effort last month ahead of the Democratic National Convention, with Ilan Goldenberg, a former peace negotiator and a Harris aide, tapped as the liaison to the Jewish community. Goldenberg attended most Jewish events on the sidelines of the DNC, including an event hosted by Agudath Israel of America, representing the Orthodox community, a bloc of reliable Republican voters.
Charles Kretchmer Lutvak, a Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson, said in a statement that the Jewish outreach campaign is eyeing Jewish voters in swing states as part of a “broad coalition” to win in November.
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