America’s first second gentleman gets his turn on center stage tonight

CHICAGO — When President Biden dropped out of his race for a second term, Vice President Harris was hunkered down at her residence in Washington, D.C., with her closest advisers and some family members.

But her husband — second gentleman Doug Emhoff — was running down the street in Los Angeles, with his Secret Service agents close behind. A friend had just told Emhoff the news, but he had left his own phone in the car.

“[I] got into the car, pulled out my phone and my phone was literally self-immolated and of course it was a series of messages: ‘Call Kamala, call Kamala,’” Emhoff recounted to Preet Bharara in his Stay Tuned podcast.

Eventually, Emhoff did manage to speak with his wife, who was in the middle of launching her second presidential campaign. The first time he got to see her was the next day at the campaign’s headquarters in Wilmington, Del.

Emhoff speaks about reproductive rights, and antisemitism

The second gentleman had been caught by flight delays that kept him on the West Coast after a series of events he held on reproductive rights — an issue he’s been vocal about since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade.

Emhoff spoke about the court’s decision last month in Virginia while visiting a medical clinic that provides abortions.

“What we’ve seen is a full-blown crisis,” he said. “We’ve seen the stories of women who had to literally be on death’s door before they got treatment. It’s barbaric, it’s immoral and it must change.”

Another issue Emhoff has taken on is combating the rise in antisemitism. He’s the first Jewish spouse of any president or vice president. After the Hamas attacks on October 7, Emhoff was a passionate voice for Israel for the administration.

“We witnessed a mass murder of innocent