Kamala Harris entered the fight of her life when she became the Democratic nominee for President in early August, but she is not alone in this fight.
The vice president has a tight-knit inner circle who are pulling out all the stops so that she can succeed on election day. Her people range from her husband, Doug Emhoff, to her stepkids, chief of staff and policy advisors, who have steadfastly supported her throughout the campaign.
Join HELLO! as we explore the members of Harris’ inner circle and how they have fought for her in this election year.
Although she is not supporting Kamala in an official capacity, Maya is a crucial player behind the scenes of her sister’s campaign. The two girls were primarily raised by their mother, Shyamala, after their parents divorced; they grew up extremely close and are only two years apart in age.
She attended law school at Berkeley and Stanford, proving that the brainiac genes run in the family. Maya advised her sister on her first campaign in 2003 for district attorney in San Francisco and also served as an advisor to Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign.
Most recently, she headed Harris’ campaign to be the Democratic nominee in 2019 and 2020 against Joe Biden before the VP ultimately dropped out of the race. In this election, Maya did not have an official role on her sister’s campaign trail but did speak at the Democratic National Convention.
Speaking to Peoplein September 2024, she said, “When she is elected president of the United States, I will call her Madam President … until then, she is big sister Kamala.”
Maya’s husband worked under Barack Obama in the Justice Department and is a key advisor for Harris during her election campaign.
He is a critical fundraiser for the Democratic party, and temporarily left his current role to go on the road with his sister-in-law and work on her team.
According to CNN commentator Bakari Sellers, “The campaign leadership is a collaborative effort, but Tony West is probably the most guiding hand there.”
“There’s nothing that happens in the campaign that he’s not part of,” he said.
The second gentleman of the White House is always by his wife’s side, supporting her without question on the campaign trail.
The entertainment lawyer met Harris in 2013 on a blind date, and the pair married the following year.
He has been on his own campaign trail this election cycle, even visiting a women’s health clinic in Maine; Vanity Fair called him a “professional wife guy”.
New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez waxed poetic about Doug to a group of university students in Nevada, saying that he was “not afraid to embody and pass on these values of security and this idea that you can let your girl shine.”
Cole and Ella Emhoff, Kamala’s stepchildren
Cole Emhoff, Kamala, Doug and Ella Emhoff
Harris’ stepkids, who affectionately call her ‘Momala’, are two of her biggest supporters on the campaign trail.
Cole, the more low-key sibling of the pair, works in entertainment and has been part of WME talent agency, as well as Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B.
Harris even officiated his wedding to Greenley Littlejohn in 2023, proving how close she is to her stepson.
Ella is the more outspoken of the siblings; she spoke at the Democratic National Convention and unequivocally supports her stepmom. She studied fine arts before signing on to IMG Models and has since walked runways worldwide.
After J.D. Vance called Harris a “childless cat lady” in July, she took to social media to slam his comments. “How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I,” she wrote on her Instagram. “I love my three parents,” she finished, referring to Doug, her mother Kerstin, and her stepmom Kalama.
Outside of her family, Harris has some strong people working behind the scenes. Lorraine Voles is one of her inner circle, is a White House veteran and has worked under Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Hillary Clinton, to name a few.
“Lorraine is a force of nature and a force for good who looks around corners and plays to win,” Chris Lehane, who previously worked with Lorraine, told Reuters.
Lorraine came to Harris after many of her staff left in May 2022, including people in her communications and national security departments, acting as a stabilizer for the VP.
Brian was a crucial part of Harris’ team when she worked as the attorney general of California, as well as during her time in the Senate. He is a senior policy advisor and a critical player for Harris, having previously worked as a lawyer in LA.
“I was just deeply impressed by both [Kamala’s] vision for the office and what the attorney general can do on behalf of the residents of California,” he told Frontlineabout their first meeting.
“But just her presence, and again, sort of like a really dynamic energy about her.”
One of Harris’ close professional bonds is with Senator Butler, a union organizer who served as a senior advisor on her 2019 presidential campaign. She also supported her senate bid in 2016 and, since meeting her, has stood by her side.
“Her heart is her superpower,” Butler told PBS News.
“I am doing everything that I can to protect the future of this country by helping Vice President Harris become President Harris,” she told The Washington Post in August.
“I believe in her and her leadership, and if she felt like there was something that I could offer, I, of course, would have to consider it,” Butler said. “You don’t get asked to do something by the president of the United States very often.”
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