The Truth About Kamala Harris’ Stepchildren 》

Regardless of whether you share her politics or not, the rise and fall of Kamala Harris has been fascinating to watch. She wasn’t a nationally known figure until she became Vice President under Joe Biden. However, Biden himself took most of the spotlight, so we didn’t really get to know much about Harris until Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, leaving her to campaign for President. This meant months of seeing her on TV and learning all about her, but after Harris’ loss to Donald Trump, she has once again slipped off the public radar.

Now that the smoke has cleared from the 2024 election, we decided to take a closer look at Kamala Harris’ family members who were unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight thanks to her political ambitions. Sure, everyone knows her husband, the affable Doug Emhoff. But do you know much about Cole and Ella Emhoff, the stepchildren who mean the world to Harris?

Without them, she would never have become VP and tried to run for president. And now that she’s lost, Kamala Harris has plenty of time to reconnect with her fascinating family. Without further ado, here’s the surprising truth about Harris’ stepchildren and their relationship to her.

Kamala Harris shares a tight bond with her stepchildren

The first thing you need to know about Kamala Harris and her stepchildren is that they all have a solid relationship. It’s a bit of a pop culture cliche for people to worry about an “evil stepmother” who makes their lives miserable. Fortunately for Cole and Ella Emhoff, they bonded with their own stepmother very quickly.

However, Harris didn’t rush into meeting the stepchildren. Doug Emhoff did not introduce them until he and Harris had been dating for two months. Once they bonded, though, the stepchildren gave their stepmother Kamala a very flattering nickname: “Momala.” To them, she is and always will be a great mother.

Cole Emhoff navigates politics with his stepmother

Cole Emhoff is the oldest of Kamala Harris’ stepchildren. He was named after jazz legend John Coltrane and was already 20 years old when he met the woman who would become his stepmother. While they hit it off, Cole quickly learned that when you live with Harris, there’s no getting away from political matters.

In an interview with Glamour, he admitted that “We would just have these real conversations at dinner, almost Socratic, where we would all bounce off each other.” When his stepmother’s political career began taking off in earnest, he belatedly realized how familiar some of her public speaking sounded. “It’s so interesting when I hear her speak publicly or read about her policy position,” he said. “I’m like, Okay, I’ve seen that reflected at the dinner table, so I know it’s true to her.”

Ella Emhoff found her stepmother’s political career both exciting and scary

Ella Emhoff is the youngest of Kamala Harris’ stepchildren. Like her brother Cole, she was named after a jazz icon…in this case, Ella Fitzgerald. She had just started high school when she met Harris, and they quickly became very tight. So tight, in fact, that Ella was all too happy to help her stepmother on the campaign trail in 2020 when she was campaigning alongside Joe Biden.

In that aforementioned Glamour article, Ella described just how surreal it was to experience politics in this way. “I think it was also that intense wave of realization and anxiety that, ‘Wow, I’m not looking at this from the outside. I’m looking at it from the inside,” she said. This is all happening to me too.” While that was intimidating, she also found it both exciting and scary. “I felt extreme love and excitement, but also a little bit of shock.”

Kamala Harris officiated at her stepson’s wedding

Remember when we said that Kamala Harris and her stepson were very tight? When Cole Emhoff married Greenley Littlejohn, he did more than ask his stepmother to be part of the wedding. Harris, in fact, was the one to actually officiate at this joyous event.

This meant a lot of Cole, and it clearly meant a lot to Harris as well. As People reports, “It was so wonderful that the kids asked me to do it,” the former Vice President said. “For us, we think of marriage as being not just between these two people, but the coming together of families.

As for Harris, she had nothing but love for the union and for the newest member of the family. “I want for those two [Cole and Greenley] to have a loving marriage where they are best friends,” she said, “and they know that it’s not just them against the world, that our family supports them.”

The fascinating fashion career of Ella Emhoff

Of Kamala Harris’ two stepchildren, Ella Emhoff is definitely the most famous. That’s because she has a very successful career as a model and a fashion designer. And she wasn’t afraid to parlay her mother’s fame into a launchpad for her own career, especially after she was signed by IMG Models Worldwide back in early 2021.

Since then, she has modeled for Balenciaga, made a killer red carpet debut at the Met Gala, and been named as one of Harper’s Bazaar’s icons of the year in 2022 for being such a fashion maven. Considering how much success she has had so early in her career, we’re likely to see more fun fashions and killer looks from Ella Emhoff for many, many years.