Who are Ella and Cole Emhoff? Here’s what to know about Kamala Harris’s stepchildren
Vice President Kamala Harris was once called a “childless cat lady” by Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance — a claim that thechildfree community, her husband’s ex-wife, and even Jennifer Aniston have slammed as sexist.
It’s also just plain wrong. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee actually has two step-children thanks to her husband Doug Emhoff, whom she wed in 2014. Emhoff had two children, Ella and Cole Emhoff, with his first wife, Kerstin — and the pair affectionately refer to Harris as their “momala.”
“For over 10 years since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I,” Kerstin Emhoff told CNN. “I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.”
Here is what you need to know about Harris’s family.
Ella Emhoff is a 25-year-old model, fashion designer and artist.
She graduated from New York’s Parsons School of Design in 2021.
That same year, she dazzled at Joe Biden’s inauguration — wearing a plaid Miu Miu coat — and weeks later signed a modeling contract with IMG.
Nicknamed the “First Daughter of Bushwick,” the arty area of Brooklyn where she reportedly lives, Ella has solidified her space in the art world.
The artist specializes in knitwear — posting Instagram videos of the creative process — and even founded Soft Hands Knit Club, teaching others her knitting skills in different spots around the city.
“Knitting and textile art in general has and always will be a therapeutic practice for me. I treat it as something to calm my anxiety,” she told Cultured magazine in 2023.
Ella has also dipped her toe into the political scene, appearing on the Biden-Harris campaign trail in 2020.
More recently, she agreed with pop star Charli XCX’s classification of her step-mom