Vice President Kamala Harris’ niece and nephews spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Wednesday, a night focused on fighting “for our freedoms,” from democracy to reproductive rights and more.
Arden Emhoff, Jasper Emhoff and Alexander Hudlin spoke of their “Auntie” as someone who always makes time for family and who will treat everyone with respect.
“Even as a kid, Auntie made me feel that I was seen, that my words are important, that I am important and loved. I know she’ll value others’ perspectives, no matter their age or their background,” Arden Emhoff said.
Meena Harris, Vice President Kamala Harris’ niece; Ella Hemhoff, Harris’ stepdaughter; and Helena Hudlin, Harris’ goddaughter, spoke Thursday on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, an evening focused on the future as Harris formally accepts her party’s nomination for president. The three women shared stories of how Harris supported them and the women in their lives.
“Kamala came into my life when I was 14 – famously a very easy time for a teenager. Like a lot of young people, I didn’t always understand what I was feeling,” Emhoff said. “But no matter what, Kamala was there for me. She was patient, caring, and always took me seriously. She’s never stopped listening to me, and she’s not going to stop listening to all of us.”
Harris’ speech is her first official chance to offer her vision for the country to voters. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz formally accepted the vice presidential nomination the day before.
Alexander Hudlin ’26 spoke to millions of viewers at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago on Aug. 21. Hudlin is Vice President Kamala Harris’ godson, and referred to her as his “auntie” multiple times during his minute-and-a-half speech last Wednesday. Alongside Harris’ nephew and niece, Jasper and Arden Emhoff, Hudlin spoke about the Vice President’s strong family values.
The DNC featured a different theme for each night of the convention, which lasted Aug. 19-22. Monday was named “For the People,” and Tuesday was “A Bold Vision for America’s Future.” Hudlin, Jasper and Arden spoke before the convention on Wednesday night, which was themed “A Fight for our Freedoms.” In addition to Harris’ nephew, niece and Hudlin, former President Bill Clinton and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi spoke that night. The last night of the convention was themed “For our Future,” where Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accepted the Democratic presidential nomination and the vice presidential nomination, respectively.
Hudlin said in his speech that he recognized the importance of Harris’ political career at an early age when he recalled her appointment to the US Senate for California in 2016.
“She’ll lift us up,” Hudlin said to the crowd. “In 2016, when we celebrated Auntie’s Senate win, we saw Trump winning [president]. I was only nine, but I knew enough to be concerned. Auntie said, ‘Do you know what superheroes do? They fight back. And we will too.’”
Hudlin concluded his speech by calling Harris “a baller,” a remark that caught the attention of news outlets and social media.
In an interview with The Chronicle, Hudlin said he felt supported by those around him when he spoke at the convention.
“It meant the world,” Hudlin said. “I just felt blessed being in this position. I have a great base of friends around me. It was really an incredible experience for me, and I’m so proud of [Harris] and just so proud of how far she’s gone. I’m pumped for November, and I’m really excited about the election.”
Harris has significantly increased her support base over President Joe Biden after dropped out of the running, according to US Presidential Polls. Harris’ improvement over Biden is in part by reason of increased support among young voters. Hudlin said he is optimistic about young people getting involved in politics.
“I would hope that they’re excited for the future,” Hudlin said. “Young people are really excited for [Harris] to be president. The future is now, and it was such an honor to be so young and to represent our generation, Gen Z.”
Hudlin said he wants his peers to cast a thoughtful vote in November.
“I’m encouraging everyone to vote to think about the future and just try to make the right choice,” Hudlin said. “This is a very important election, and a lot of our classmates can contribute to it and make an good impact. Every vote matters.”
History teacher Peter Sheehy (Will ’22, Tate ’24) said Hudlin’s opportunity to speak was personally inspiring and reflective of the important role of youth in political issues.
“That’s just a life-altering opportunity,” Sheehy said. ” Hopefully, that’s inspiring for his career. The role of youth [in politics] is [when] the kids in the school shooting in Florida [were] very outspoken about gun control. You saw Amanda Gorman giving the poetry. Young people are such an important voice on so many issues, and the older generation loves hearing from the younger generation.”
Trump’s family is involved with the politics of the Republican National Committee, according to the Washington Post. His five children, who were present throughout the Republican National Convention (RNC), are politicians in their own respect. Their recent prominence at the convention deepens their involvement in the Trump Campaign. Sara Segil ’25, who attended the 2024 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses on a school trip, said Harris’ decision to bring her family on stage added humanity to her campaign.
“The younger generation has been struggling to be represented and just go out and vote,” Segil said. “Having not only a younger candidate on the DNC stage but having even more youth representation really shows how the tides have started to turn. [Harris’] younger family is in contrast with Trump’s, especially since Trump has made families so important in the RNC, with his family members being at the head of it. Having family play such a different role in the DNC is really interesting because her family is represented. Instead of being professional, they’re really a testament to her character.”
Vice President Kamala Harris has talked about her family at length throughout her short campaign, with many members of that extended, blended family showing up in Chicago across the four days of the Democratic National Convention to help introduce the nominee to the country.
Vice President Kamala Harris has talked about her family at length throughout her short campaign, with many members of that extended, blended family showing up in Chicago across the four days of the Democratic National Convention to help introduce the nominee to the country.
Here’s what to know about Harris’ family.
Doug Emhoff: Husband
Dougy, as Harris calls him, has stood beside his wife of a decade as her star rose, going from California’s top lawyer to its junior senator before President Biden chose her in 2020 to be his running mate. When Biden won the election, Harris became the first Black, first Asian and first female VP in US history.
Emhoff got his own historic superlative: “Second Gentleman of the United States.”
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Emhoff was raised in New Jersey with his brother and sister and moved to Los Angeles when he was in high school.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from California State University, Northridge and a J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
Emhoff is an avid golfer and a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Dodgers (though Harris, from the Bay Area, supports San Francisco’s teams).
He married Harris on Aug. 22 2014, a year after the pair were set up on a blind date. Emhoff spoke at the DNC on Tuesday, delivering one of the more memorable and light-hearted speeches focused on how he awkwardly started dating his future wife.
Shyamala Gopalan: Mother
Many of the speakers this week have mentioned Harris’ mother, Shyamala, whom the vice president often cites as her inspiration. She was a biomedical scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who worked to isolate progesterone receptor genes to advance studies into breast biology and oncology.
Shyamala met her husband Donald Harris, while she was a Ph.D. student. A year later, in 1963, they were married.
Harris’s mother died of colon cancer in 2009 at 70 years old. Harris later carried Shyamala’s ashes to Chenai, on the southeastern coast of India.
Maya Harris: Sister
Maya Harris is the vice president’s younger sister. She is a lawyer as well and was one of three senior policy advisors for Hillary Clinton‘s 2016 presidential campaign.
She went to the University of California Berkeley and Stanford University. At 17, she gave birth to her only child, Meena Harris. In 1998, she married Tony West. They were both part of the 1992 Stanford Law School class.
In 2006, Maya was the lead attorney in League of Women Voters of California v. McPherson. The state court case restored the voting rights to over 100,000 Californians in county jails on probation from felony convictions.
She also served as the vice president for democracy, rights and justice at the Ford Foundation and also co-wrote “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Bring.”
In 2020, the public policy advocate and writer served as chair of the 2020 presidential campaign for her sister.
Maya was previously involved with PolicyLink, the American Civil Liberties Union and with the Center for American Progress. She was the first Jamaican-American to lead the ACLU of Northern California and the first South Asian executive director of an ACLU affiliate.
Harris’ brother-in-law, Tony West, made a surprise appearance at the DNC. The chief legal officer for Uber, noted how he, Harris and her sister were all lawyers who followed different paths in law, but still shared similar values of pursuing justice.
West said one of Harris’ first cases was about a woman who was wrongfully arrested in a police raid.
“Most prosecutors, they would have gone home and dealt with the matter the following Monday,” West said. “But not Kamala.”
Harris knew the woman would have spent the entire weekend in jail, potentially keeping her away from her children and job, he said.
“Within minutes, that woman was released back to her family that night,” West said. “It may seem small but that’s what it means to stand up for justice. That’s what it means to stand for the people, and as Kamala says, ‘when you know what to stand for, you know what to fight for.'”
Meena Harris: Niece
Meena is Maya Harris’s daughter from a previous relationship. She is the founder and CEO of Phenomenal, a consumer and media company.
Meena, who is also a lawyer and author, worked on her aunt’s 2020 presidential campaign. The two share an Oct. 20 birthday.
Meena spoke at the DNC on Thursday night along with Ella Emhoff and Helena Hudlin.
Helena Hudlin: Goddaughter
Helena is the daughter of Harris’s best friend Chrisette Hudlin, who introduced Harris to Emhoff.
Hudlin, a client of Doug’s at the time, happened to also be friends with Harris, who was then the attorney general of California. After meeting with Emhoff at his office, Hudlin called Harris to tell her about it.
“He’s cute and he’s the managing partner of his law firm and I think you’re really going to like him,” Hudlin told Harris.
Kerstin Mackin: Mother to stepchildren
In 1992, Emhoff married film producer Kerstin Mackin. The couple had two children, Cole and Ella, who are named after jazz legends John Coltrane and Ella Fitzgerald.
Emhoff and Mackin divorced after 16 years of marriage after Emhoff reportedly had an affair. She is now the founder and CEO of the L.A. production company Prettybird, and by all accounts maintains a close relationship with her ex-husband.
Mackin, who uses the last name Emhoff, has recently defended Harris against sexist comments about the vice president not having any biological children of her own.
“These are baseless attacks. For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I,” she said in a statement. “She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.”
Mackin has been posting photos to Instagram showing her at the DNC each day.
Cole Emhoff: Stepson
Cole, 29, worked at the talent agency WME and then later at Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B. A graduate of Colorado College, he studied psychology and did a presentation in 2017 on “Fake News: How Cognitive Biases Interact with Social Networking Sites to Influence People’s Perception of Misinformation.”
Cole and Greenley Littlejohn, the global product development manager for Brand ID, have been married since last October. Harris officiated the ceremony.
According to Cole’s IMDb profile, he was part of the crew for “Father of the Bride” as well as “Minari” and acted as Hank in the 2017 short “Dance Lady Dance.”
Cole has been seen in the crowd at the DNC throughout the week. He helped to create – and narrate – the video that introduced his father, Doug.
Ella Emhoff: Stepdaughter
Ella, 25, is an artist, model and fashion designer who lives in Brooklyn. She went to the Parsons School of Design, where she majored in fine arts with a concentration in apparel and textiles, graduating in 2021. She regularly posts her work on social media.
In January 2021, just after the inauguration, Ella signed with IMG Models, the famed international modeling agency. She’s been profiled by the New York Times, which noted her many tattoos and penchant for not shaving her underarms.
She is also a part of The 3% Movement, an organization focused on increasing the number of female creative directors.
Ella has been posting to Instagram showing her at the DNC and supporting Harris.
Harris’s stepchildren have been known to refer to their stepmother as “Momala.”
Arden Emhoff: Niece
Arden is the daughter of Doug Emhoff’s brother, Andy. Emhoff has a sister as well, Jaime.
Arden talked at the DNC on Wednesday night along with Jasper Emhoff and Alexander Hudlin.
Arden said that “even as a kid, auntie made me feel like I was seen.”
“I know she will value others perspectives no matter their age or background,” Arden said. “Let’s win this thing.”
Jasper Emhoff: Nephew
Jasper is the son of Doug Emhoff’s brother, Andy. Emhoff has a sister, Jaime, as well.
“No one is busier than my auntie, but she always makes time for family,” Jasper said on Wednesday.
Alexander Hudlin: Godson
Alexander is the other child of Harris’ best friend, Chrisette Hudlin, who introduced Harris to Emhoff.
He talked at the DNC on Wednesday night along with Arden and Jasper Emhoff.
“You know what superheroes do?” Alexander said Harris asked in 2016 when Donald Trump was elected to the presidency. “They fight back, and we will too.”
