Republican candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris are all set to participate in the highly-anticipated first Presidential debate next week. Ahead of the September 10 face-off, Ms Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, spoke about their debates as a married couple in a new interview with ‘Pod Save America’. The US Vice President and her husband were both accomplished lawyers before entering politics, Mr Emhoff shared in the interview. So, when ‘Pod Save America’ cohost Tommy Vietor asked the second gentleman about the upcoming presidential debate between Ms Harris and former US President Donald Trump, Mr Emhoff revealed that he has never won a debate against his wife. 

“I assume no one has debated with her more often than you have,” Mr Vietor said. “What should we expect? What should we look for?” he asked, as per Business Insider.

“I haven’t won one,” Mr Emhoff said of debating Ms Harris. He then went on to call Ms Harris a “great debater” and “first-class trial lawyer”. 

“It’s not like we’re in a debate, but I realize if we’re talking about something, any really good lawyer will lay little traps for you along the way, and as I’m going through this discussion about some husband-wife thing, I say ‘Oh, that’s what you’re doing!'” he said, adding, “I was a pretty good trial lawyer too.”

Notably, before entering politics, Ms Harris served as district attorney of San Francisco and attorney general of California. Mr Emhoff, on the other hand, was a partner at DLA Piper in Los Angeles specialising in intellectual property and entertainment and media law. The couple celebrated their 10-year anniversary in August. 

“Kamala Harris was exactly the right person for me at an important time in my life. At this moment in this nation’s history she is exactly the right president,” the 59-year-old said last month at the Democratic National Convention. 

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Kamala Harris will face-off Donald Trump on September 10, Tuesday in a debate hosted by ABC News. The campaigns have traded barbs while negotiating the host network and rules of the debate, such as whether their microphones will stay unmuted. 

Regarding this, Mr Emhoff said, “It’s Donald Trump, so who the hell knows what you’re going to get, but I know from her she’s going to be talking about us, she’s going to be talking about the American people.” 

ABC News is hosting the second presidential debate on Tuesday, September 10, at 9 pm ET. It will be the first time Ms Harris and Mr Trump debate each other. The debate will be held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Chicago:

He met Kamala Harris on a blind date, and on Tuesday her husband Doug Emhoff tried to convince Americans to love her too after an equally whirlwind introduction. The first “Second Gentleman” in US history wooed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago with a speech that highlighted the human side of the party’s presidential nominee.

Delegates chanted “Doug” as the 59-year-old — who gave up his high-flying legal career to support Harris as vice president — regaled them with the tale of how they met and how she then became the stepmother to his kids.

“I love you and I’m so proud of how you’re stepping up for all of us,” Emhoff said.

And he said their personal history showed she was ready to be the country’s first female commander-in-chief — which would make him its first ever First Gentleman.

“Kamala Harris was exactly the right person for me at an important time in my life. At this moment in this nation’s history she is exactly the right president.”

Harris posted a picture of herself on Air Force Two, watching him speak while she returned from a rally in Milwaukee. “Love you Dougie,” she wrote.

‘Heyyyy, it’s Doug’

The Harris campaign regards Emhoff as something of a secret weapon, a ready-made speaker who can familiarize Americans with the vice president after her rapid rise following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the White House race.

He has taken a very visible role as cheerleader-in-chief for his 59-year-old wife ever since Biden first picked her as his running mate back in 2020.

More recently, the father-of-two has been her attack dog against Donald Trump as the Republican former president unleashes personal and racially tinged insults at the Democrat.

But his speech in Chicago focused on the personal as much as the political.

As the crowd waved “Doug” signs, Emhoff told the story of how he and Harris were set up on a blind date by one of his legal clients.

The day after, Emhoff called Harris early in the morning, got her answerphone and “just started rambling. ‘Heyyyy, it’s Doug… I was trying to grab the words out of the air and just put them back in my mouth.”

Harris, however, thought the message was “adorable”, saved it, and they married the following year. Now she plays the message to him every anniversary, he said.

“This Thursday will be our 10th wedding anniversary… that same night I’ll be hearing my wife, Kamala Harris accept your nomination for President of the United States.”

‘Momala’

Their marriage made Kamala Harris a stepmother to Emhoff’s then-teenage children Cole and Ella — who both dubbed her “Momala”.

Cole Emhoff introduced him on stage, after narrating a video showing snapshots from Emhoff’s life and gently ribbing his dad.

His son said their “blended family wasn’t used to politics,” but when Harris became first a California senator and then vice president, they all stepped up.

“It felt like Doug was a bit out of place on Capitol Hill, I thought ‘what is my goofy dad doing here?’ But he embraced it.”

Emhoff himself has admitted that it didn’t all come easily, especially when he took a leave of absence from his entertainment law job, which was earning him around $1 million a year.

Biden helped him at the time, saying to him “I know this must have been tough.”

Since then, Kamala has called Emhoff her rock as Harris blazed a trail as the first female, Black and South Asian vice president in US history

He too set a milestone, becoming the first ever Jewish spouse of a US president or vice president.

Under the Biden administration, Emhoff took on an increasingly high profile role, giving speeches calling out anti-Semitism after the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel.

He also performed ceremonial duties including leading the US delegation at the closing of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But for one person at least, Emhoff doesn’t take the back seat.

“My mother is the only person in the whole world who thinks Kamala is the lucky one for marrying me,” he quipped.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

US Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff recently tested positive for Covid-19, the latter’s office has announced.

In a statement on Sunday, Emhoff’s Communications Director Liza Acevedo said the Second Gentleman on Saturday tested positive for Covid-19 after experiencing mild symptoms.

“He is fully vaccinated and three times boosted,” she said, adding that the Second Gentleman is “currently asymptomatic, continuing to work remotely, and remaining away from others at home”.

“Out of an abundance of caution, yesterday (on Saturday), the Vice President was tested for Covid-19. She tested negative and remains asymptomatic,” Acevedo said.

Emhoff was photographed at the White House standing near Harris, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden during the Independence Day celebration on Thursday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)