The 'blended' family behind Kamala Harris

Vice-President Kamala Harris has had to quickly re-introduce herself to US voters, who are now having to size her up as a potential commander-in-chief, instead of Joe Biden's deputy.

And during the biggest moment of Harris's career so far - the Democratic convention in Chicago - they have got to know her family as well.

Here are the of the big and blended family who have helped her get here.

Harris met her now-husband, Los Angeles entertainment lawyer Doug Emhoff in 2013, while she was serving as California’s attorney general. They were married the following year. Since then Mr Emhoff, 60, has stuck close to his wife’s side as she has risen in the ranks of US politics.

In 2020, when Harris made history as the first black and South Asian woman to become vice-president, Mr Emhoff made history too as the first husband of an American president or vice-president, as well as the first Jewish spouse of a vice-president.

He left his law firm that year to focus full-time on his role as "second gentleman", a position that has pulled him out of relative obscurity. He is now known as an enthusiastic champion for Democratic party causes and Harris’s most loyal surrogate on the campaign trail.

And in a prime-time slot at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), a beaming Mr Emhoff was his wife's biggest cheerleader once again.

"She’s always been there for our children,” Mr Emhoff said, “and I know she’ll always be there for yours too.”

The vice-president’s marriage made her a step-mother to Cole and Ella, the two children Mr Emhoff shares with his first wife, Kerstin Emhoff.

Ms Harris has said often that of all her many titles, being "Momala" - the term coined by Cole and Ella - is the most important. That affection seems to go both ways - Cole and Ella, now 30 and 25, respectively, have been vocal ers of Harris.

"The world’s greatest step-mother" was Ella’s introduction during the 2020 Democratic convention. "You’re a rock, not just for our dad, but for three generations of our big, blended family."

Cole, who graduated from Colorado College in 2017, has followed his father into the entertainment industry, with jobs at talent agency WME and, later, Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B. In 2023, he married Greenley Littlejohn in a private ceremony in Los Angeles.

Ella, who graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York City, signed with IMG Models in 2021 and walked in shows for high-fashion brands like Balenciaga and Proenza Schouler. She’s also an artist and a prolific knitter, who launched the knitwear brand and club Soft Hands in 2021.

Cole and Ella’s mom, Kerstin, has - perhaps unexpectedly - gone out of her way to speak warmly and positively of Harris. Recently, Kerstin came to Harris’s defence when JD Vance’s "childless cat lady" comments resurfaced.

"For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I," Kerstin said in a statement to CNN. "She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it."

• The many identities of the first woman vice-president
• Doug Emhoff: The first 'second dude' in the White House

Kerstin, the founder and CEO of production company Prettybird, even provided her creative expertise and connections to the 2020 campaign.

"They were like, 'The ex-wife wants to do what">Republicans have won control of both chambers of Congress, yielding Trump limited congressional oversight for at least 2 years.