Kamala Harris’ 2 Stepchildren: All About Ella and Cole

Kamala Harris is a stepmother to two children, Ella and Cole, with her husband Doug Emhoff.

The vice president and current 2024 Democratic presidential nominee married her husband in 2014. Doug was previously married for 16 years to Kerstin Emhoff, with whom he welcomed his son Cole in 1994 and daughter Ella in 1999.

Two months after Harris began to date Doug, he introduced her to his children, who were teenagers at the time. She has since developed a close bond with them, telling PEOPLE in October 2023 that they affectionately call her “Momala.” Harris added, “It’s the name the kids gave me, and I wear it proudly.”

“They are brilliant, talented, funny kids who have grown to be remarkable adults,” she wrote in a personal essay for Elle in 2019. “I was already hooked on Doug, but I believe it was Cole and Ella who reeled me in.”

As the 2024 presidential race has approached with the election on Nov. 5, they have been supportive of her run. Ella, in particular, has spoken out in defense of Harris and attended events.

Here’s everything to know about Kamala Harris’ stepchildren, Ella and Cole.

Cole Emhoff, 30

Doug and his ex-wife Kerstin welcomed Cole on Sept. 15, 1994, naming him after jazz musician John Coltrane. Cole was raised in California and was nearly 20 years old when his father married Harris.

He shared in a conversation with his father and sister for Glamour in 2020 that he liked Harris from the moment he met her during a dinner at The Reel Inn, and got to know her as a stepmother first rather than a politician.

Cole added, however, that her political side came out at the dinner table when they would engage in serious conversations.

“We would just have these real conversations at dinner, almost Socratic, where we would all bounce off each other,” he said. “It’s so interesting when I hear her speak publicly or read about her policy position. I’m like, Okay, I’ve seen that reflected at the dinner table, so I know it’s true to her.”

Cole attended Colorado College, from which he graduated in 2017 with a degree in psychology, per his since-deleted LinkedIn. He went on to work for Plan B Entertainment, a production company co-founded by Brad Pitt behind films like Minari and The Departed.

In his personal life, Cole married his longtime girlfriend, Greenley Littlejohn, on Oct. 14, 2023. Harris officiated the ceremony, telling PEOPLE a month later that the moment “meant so much for so many reasons.”

“It was so wonderful that the kids asked me to do it,” she said. “For us, we think of marriage as being not just between these two people, but the coming together of families. So it was very much with that spirit that we all participated.”

Harris added that in addition to giving advice to the couple — such as checking in with each other frequently — she hoped they knew they were supported.

“I want for those two [Cole and Greenley] to have a loving marriage where they are best friends and they know that it’s not just them against the world, that our family supports them,” she said. “That the community of people that came together at the wedding supports [them].”

At the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Cole made a video about his dad’s relationship with Harris, starting with what he called “the blind date that would dramatically change all of our lives forever.”

“Our blended family wasn’t used to politics or the spotlight, but when Kamala became senator, we were all excited to step up. Especially my dad,” Cole said in the video. “Then Kamala became vice president. It felt like Doug was a bit out of place on Capitol Hill. I thought, ‘What is my goofy dad doing here?’ But he embraced it.”

Ella Emhoff, 25

Ella Emhoff was born on May 29, 1999, to Doug and Kerstin and was named after another jazz musician, Ella Fitzgerald. Ella was starting high school when her dad introduced her to Harris and was in college at The New School’s Parsons School of Design when her stepmother was elected to be vice president.

Before she assumed her role, Ella helped Harris on the campaign trail, making occasional appearances and supporting her when she was sworn in in January 2021.

“I think it was also that intense wave of realization and anxiety that, ‘Wow, I’m not looking at this from the outside. I’m looking at it from the inside. This is all happening to me too,’ ” she shared in Glamour of what it felt like to join President Joe Biden’s campaign in 2020 in support of Harris. “I felt extreme love and excitement, but also a little bit of shock.”

In May 2021, Ella graduated from college, with Harris marking the special occasion on Instagram.

“Congratulations to our daughter Ella on her graduation,” she wrote in the caption. “I am so proud of you. Keep dreaming with ambition and there is nothing you cannot achieve.”

Since then, Ella has pivoted into a career as a model and fashion designer. She was signed by IMG Models Worldwide in January 2021 and has modeled for brands such as Balenciaga. Ella even made her Met Gala red carpet debut in May 2021 wearing Adidas by Stella McCartney.

In January 2022, Ella announced she would be continuing to create knitwear — which she often posts about on Instagram — under her name. She also hosts a Soft Hands Knitting Club in New York City where she teaches others how to knit.

Later that year, Ella was named as one of Harper’s Bazaar’s icons of the year for her impact on fashion.

“It’s kind of shocking,” she told PEOPLE of the acknowledgment in September 2022. “This is an incredible honor and as someone who doesn’t really think of herself like that it’s nice reassurance. And makes me check myself and the way I perceive myself, so exciting.”