For better or for worse, we’re going to see a lot less of Kamala Harris in the public eye. That’s because she lost the 2024 presidential election to Donald Trump. In the lead-up to that election Harris was a constant source of headlines…after all, she’s the vice president under Joe Biden, and had she won the election, she would have become the most powerful person in the world. Now, she gets to fly under the radar once again, and even her biggest fans are learning some surprising revelations about her and her lifestyle.
Because she was going up against a famous billionaire for the top job, many voters (helped along by breathless tabloid headlines) thought that Kamala Harris was a woman of the people…someone who, like Bernie Sanders before her, decided to live a simple life while waging war on wealthy individuals and corporate interests. In reality, though, Harris lives a luxurious life, and she’s likely to openly live larger after the election loss.
Don’t believe it? Keep reading to learn all about the surprisingly bougie life of Kamala Harris!
Making mad bank behind the scenes
Before we go any further, it’s important to talk turkey. When we say that Kamala Harris is living large, what does that mean? For one thing, it means that she’s loaded. According to Forbes, she and her husband Douglas Emhoff have an estimated net worth of $8 million.
It’s true that this amount of worth pales in comparison to how much billionaire Donald Trump is worth. But it’s also more money than most of us can ever imagine seeing in our lifetimes…heck, in several lifetimes! And for most people (especially Democrat voters) who hear this trivia, the next question is obvious: just how the heck did Harris and her hubby amass such wealth? The answers may surprise you!
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Kamala Harris married a major earner
A major part of what made Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff so wealthy is their mutual real estate savvy (more on this later). But a big part of their early wealth actually came from Emhoff and not Harris. He worked as an entertainment lawyer for many years, and his Hollywood clients had deep pockets. Because of this, Forbes reports that he was making up to one million per year as a lawyer.
Once his wife’s political ambitions really started paying off, though, Emhoff opted for a change in career. It obviously would have been difficult for him to stay a West Coast-based entertainment lawyer while his wife lived in the White House. So once Harris became vice president for Joe Biden, Emhoff became a law professor at Georgetown, earning a diminished (but still highly respectable) $200,000 a year.
Real estate moguls
While Doug Emhoff was a major earner when Kamala Harris met him, she’s no slouch herself when it comes to generating wealth. For example, her previous time as San Francisco’s District Attorney and then California’s attorney general means that she has not one but two pensions that are each worth a million dollars. She’s also a real estate whiz, selling a San Francisco condo that she bought for as little as $300,000 for a cool $860,000.
After meeting and marrying Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris bought a home in Brentwood for the couple to live in. They bought the house in 2021, and since then, it has jumped up in value and is currently worth $4.4 million. The two also bought a Washington, DC condo in 2017 for $1.775 million and sold it for $1.85 million in 2021. Not a huge “flip,” but these real estate purchases illustrate that Harris and Emhoff know when to buy and when to sell in order to make a solid profit.
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A pricey vacation after losing the 2024 election
Had Kamala Harris won the 2024 presidential election, her financial prospects might have improved even more. After all, while Barack Obama was not overly wealthy when he entered office in 2009, he was later able to parlay his fame into some very lucrative book deals. Michelle Obama negotiated some great writing and speaking deals herself, and the two have enjoyed a life of immense wealth ever since leaving the White House.
Having lost her shot at getting the big seat, Kamala Harris will likely never be able to generate that kind of additional wealth. But she and Emhoff still have plenty of money, and they used it to take a much-needed vacation after the election results came in. The Daily Mail reports that the two took a six-day vacation to Hawaii and stayed at a posh estate worth $7 million and which charges visitors $1,300 a night.
Some would say this is an overly luxurious life for someone who once campaigned for the party of the little guy. But with Harris seemingly exiting politics altogether, we wouldn’t be surprised if she openly splurges on herself more often without the gear of how this will affect her voting constituency.