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When Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter described what her parents thought of her tattoo and weird hair, she said: “I think they’re all in, like: ‘I don’t understand it, but I want you to be you want. to be.'”
Now, with Ms. Harris running for the White House, Ella Emhoff’s eccentric style and legion of online fans could be an advantage for her presidential campaign.
A far cry from her slim former prosecutor stepmother, Miss Emhoff, 25, has modeled topless at New York Fashion Week, doesn’t shave her armpits and runs a $60-a-pop knitting club.
The “multidisciplinary artist and creator” won scores of fans when she wore a tartan-crystal Miu Miu coat to Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration.
She was quickly signed by IMG Models, the agency that represents Gigi and Bella Hadid. A former art student, she now has over 330,000 Instagram followers.
Ms Harris has no children of her own, prompting Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance to label her a “childless cat lady”. Miss Emhoff was quick to defend Ms Harris, saying: “I love all three of my parents.”
The vice president has often spoken of the strong relationship she has with her stepchildren, describing Ms Emhoff and her older brother Cole, whose husband Doug is from his former marriage to film producer wife Kerstin, as “a source without the end of love and my great joy”.
Young voters
Experts think Ms Emhoff could help Ms Harris engage with young left-wing voters ahead of the presidential election in November.
“First of all, she’s influential, she’s a content creator, she has a level of celebrity”, Mark Beal, an assistant professor at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information told The Telegraph.
“This is another aspect of Kamala’s election campaign… it’s a factor that helps more of these 41 million eligible Generator voters participate.”
Ms. Emhoff was raised in California, and attended the $51,000-a-year “independent and progressive” Wildwood School in Los Angeles before studying at Parsons School of Design in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Since then she has walked the catwalk for major brands including Balenciaga, Miu Miu and Proenza Schouler and has been an ambassador for Stella McCartney, Mulberry and Calvin Klein.
The model lives in a $1.2 million apartment in Lower Manhattan and has been called “the first daughter of Bushwick”, referring to the hipster Brooklyn area where she previously lived.
In one TikTok video, supporters compared Ms Emhoff to Naomi Biden, Joe Biden’s granddaughter, saying Ms Emhoff was “the ticket”.
Last month she signed with Hollywood talent agency UTA in hopes of “doing more knitwear collaborations with fashion brands”, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In an interview with the New York Times in 2021, Emhoff said that she and her 29-year-old brother were “really” into politics and “learning behind the scenes”.
Palestinian causes
But the politically charged creative has doubled down on promoting fundraising pages for pro-Palestinian groups.
She was criticized earlier this year when she posted a link to donate to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency on her Instagram page, two months after the US cut funding to the organization amid allegations that its workers aided in attacks 7 October in Israel.
In November 2023, she shared a link for a fundraiser for “urgent relief for the children of Gaza” from the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund and was criticized for not mentioning the Israeli children killed in the attack by Hamas.
Although Mr. Emhoff is Jewish, Ms. Emhoff has already said that she does not consider herself to be.
“Ella has no reputation for religion,” her representative told The Forward in 2021, “but she doesn’t want to speak for Judaism, because she doesn’t celebrate herself.”
Miss Emhoff has also supported transgender people, having previously held a knitting raffle to raise money for black transgender groups For the Gworls and The Okra Project.
‘Vote for our future’
On Wednesday, Miss Emhoff urged her followers to register to vote, writing on Instagram: “You already know what time it is. This is not the time to sit back and defer responsibility.
“This is about all of us showing up, taking action and voting for our future. We can be the change we want to see.”
She also reposted singer Charli XCX’s viral tweet saying “Kamala is a brat” – an online reference to someone who is comfortable with themselves – writing: “Charlie XCX gets it.”
Ms Emhoff also hit back at Mr Vance’s recently resurfaced comments comparing Ms Harris to a “childless cat lady”, writing on social media: “How can you be ‘childless’ when you have little kids like Cole and I… I love all three of my parents.”
Mr Beal said that while he did not think Ms Emhoff’s support would be a “major factor” in the 2024 election, it could help Ms Harris appeal to younger, more “issue-oriented” voters.
“Everything that she comments, that she shares, that she produces, that she distributes, it must be true and authentic to her and her voice and her storytelling that she has been doing for a year or two, or three or four, that caused … 330,000 followers. ,” he said.
“If she’s doing it [promoting Ms Harris’s campaign] in the same voice… it could be very effective. It could be very influential.”
