Take a Look Back at Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff's Relationship History (2024)

The Democratic National Convention is underway and the focus is firmly on Vice President Kamala Harris, and her running mate Governor Tim Walz, as they officially accept the Democratic nomination.

Both their families are also in the spotlight—especially Kamala Harris's blended family. As Kamala sets out to be the first female president, her husband Doug Emhoff has been by her side for over a decade. Today, in fact, Kamala and Doug are celebrating their ten year wedding anniversary. Here, take a look back at Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff's complete relationship timeline:

Kamala and Doug are set up by a mutual friend in 2013.

"My best friend, Chrisette, was blowing up my phone," Harris wrote in her memoir, The Truths We Hold. "I was in the middle of a meeting, and my phone wouldn’t stop buzzing. I ignored her call the first several times, but then I started to get worried. Her children are my godchildren. Had something happened? I stepped out and called her. 'What’s going on? Is everything okay?' 'Yes, everything is great. You’re going on a date,' she said. 'I am?' 'You are,' she replied with total certainty. 'I just met this guy. He’s cute and he’s the managing partner of his law firm and I think you’re going to really like him. He’s based in Los Angeles, but you’re always here for work anyway.' Chrisette is like a sister to me, and I knew there was no use in arguing with her. 'What’s his name?' I asked. 'His name is Doug Emhoff, but promise me you won’t Google him. Don’t overthink it. Just meet him. I already gave him your number. He’s going to reach out.'"

(Later, in a 2021 interview, Harris admitted she did Google Doug.)

A few days later, Doug texted her, she replied, and they made plans to talk the next day. That morning, Kamala noticed she had a missed call from Doug. Doug recalls, "I got up early that morning. I had an early meeting. And as I was driving to work, I couldn’t get you off my mind. And I kept saying to myself, 'It’s eight thirty a.m., it’s way too early to call her. That would be ridiculous. Don’t be that guy. Just don’t. Don’t call her. Don’t do it.' And then, 'Oh no, I just rang her number,' and, 'Oh no, it’s ringing.'" Kamala wrote in her memoir that she still has the voicemail saved to this day.

They made dinner plans, and by their third date, they were a couple.

After two months, Kamala met Doug's kids.

"We waited until about two months until after we'd met, although in my memory it feels like we'd been together for a long time—maybe because the buildup was so great, or because, by the time the big day finally arrived, I felt like I'd loved Dougs for year," Kamala wrote. She then met Cole and Ella Emhoff at a seafood hut called the Reel Inn on the Pacific Coast Highway, a favorite of the Emhoffs.

Doug proposes to Kamala in March 2014.

As they were deciding where to order dinner from, Doug proposed to Kamala, telling her he wants to spend his life with her. Kamala recalled, "When I looked up, he was getting down on one knee. He’d concocted an elaborate plan to propose to me in front of the Ponte Vecchio, in Florence. But once he had the ring, it was burning a hole in his pocket. He couldn’t keep it secret. I looked at him there, on one knee, and burst into tears. Mind you, these were not graceful Hollywood tears streaming down a glistening cheek. No, I’m talking about snorting and grunting, with mascara smudging my face. Doug reached for my hand and I held my breath and smiled back. Then he asked me to marry him, and I bellowed a tear-soaked 'Yes!'"

They marry on August 22, 2014.

Kamala's sister, Maya, officiated the ceremony at the Santa Barbara courthouse, and her niece, Meena Harris, did a reading from Maya Angelou. They combined Indian and Jewish traditions. It was Kamala's first marriage, and Doug's second.

In 2017, Kamala is sworn in as a Senator, representing California.

Kamala and Doug begin to split their time between California and Washington, D.C., and in 2020, Doug started teaching at Georgetown Law School.

"The thing most people come away from him knowing is just how much he loves his wife," Chasten Buttigieg (husband of Secretary Pete Buttigieg), . "How excited he is to support his wife. How really willing he has been to step away from his career and follow in VP Harris’s footsteps."

In 2021, Kamala becomes the nation's first female Vice President and Doug becomes the first Second Gentleman.

Kamala made history when she was elected Vice President, as did Doug: he became the first Second Gentleman, and the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president.

In 2024, Kamala Harris becomes the Democratic nominee for president after Joe Biden drops out.

The day President Joe Biden he announced he would be dropping out of the presidential race and endorsed Kamala, Emhoff was in Los Angeles. He had just done a SoulCycle class with friends, and left his phone in the car with his Secret Service detail. After a friend broke the news to him, he sprinted to his car.

As he recalls, "I ran and ran and got into our car, and of course my phone is just on fire, and it’s basically, ‘Call Kamala,’ ‘Call Kamala,’ ‘Call Kamala,’ from everyone. And of course, the first thing she said was, ‘Where the [bleep] were you? I need you.'"