Kamala Harris‘ stepdaughter Ella Emhoff and her mom Kerstin Emhoff are coming to her defense.
In the wake of the vice president’s official campaign for the presidency following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 race, she has received a flood of support from politicians and celebrities alike, including endorsements from the president himself, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and more, plus support from George Clooney, Melinda French Gates, and Beyoncé’s mom Tina Knowles, among many others.
However, on the opposite side of the political aisle, it quickly sparked a wave of racist and misogynistic vitriol, and the presumptive Democratic nominee’s family is speaking out about it.
After Harris launched her campaign less than a week ago, a clip of J.D. Vance, who Donald Trump announced as his running mate on July 15, resurfaced of an appearance on the embattled former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson’s show in 2021, during which he suggested people without children are essentially unfit to hold office.
Backlash for Vance — who has had several past comments, including against Trump, also resurface — and continued support for Harris was swift, including from her husband Doug Emhoff’s first wife, the mother of his two children, Ella and Cole.
The film producer and PRETTYBIRD CEO, who has long been supportive of Harris, said in a statement: “These are baseless attacks. For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I,” adding: “She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.”
© InstagramElla, who along with her older brother Colle affectionately call their stepmom “Momala,” took to her Instagram Stories on Thursday and, sharing a photo of her mom’s statement, said: “How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I.”
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“@khemhoff say it louder for the people in the back,” she added, tagging her mom, and maintained: “I love my three parents.”
© InstagramIn his sexist spiel, Vance argued that the country is being run by a “bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they wanna make the rest of the country miserable, too,” and using not only Harris but also Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as examples, maintained: “The entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”
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© GettyThe statement was not only offensive but incorrect; though AOC doesn’t have children of her own, Harris has been a stepmom to Ella and Cole since marrying their dad ten years ago, plus Buttigieg and his husband Chasten Buttigieg are parents to twins Joseph August “Gus” and Penelope Rose, who they adopted in 2021.
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© GettyAmong the many critics of Vance’s comments was most recently Jennifer Aniston, who doesn’t have children, but has spoken with candor about her struggles with infertility and her challenging experience with IVF.
Reposting the now infamous clip to her Instagram Stories, she wrote: “I truly can’t believe this is coming for a potential VP of the United States,” adding: “All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope that she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too.”
