Can Kamala Harris’ knitting-obsessed, topless-modelling stepdaughter help her to the presidency?

Ella Emhoff is the daughter of Kamala Harris's husband Doug Emhoff and his first wife. Photo / Instagram @ellaemhoff

Ella Emhoff has a huge following online, posting about clothes, politics and her vice-president stepmother.

When Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter described what her parents thought of her tattoos and quirky hair, she said: “I think they’re all in the realm of, like: ‘I don’t understand it, but I want you to be who you want to b’”.

Now, as Harris makes a run for the White House, Ella Emhoff’s eccentric style and legion of online fans could prove an asset for her presidential campaign.

A far cry from her strait-laced former prosecutor stepmother, Ms Emhoff, 25, has modelled 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-encrusted Miu Miu coat to the 2021 inauguration of President Joe Biden.

She was quickly signed by IMG Models, the agency that represents Gigi and Bella Hadid. A former art student, Emhoff now boasts more than 330,000 Instagram followers.

Harris does not have children of her own, something that led JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate to label her a “childless cat lady”. Emhoff was quick to defend Harris, saying: “I love my three parents”.

The vice-president has often spoken of her strong relationship with her stepchildren, describing Emhoff and her elder brother Cole, who are from her husband Doug’s former marriage to film producer wife Kerstin, as “my endless source of love and pure joy”.

Emma Emhoff (next to Mike Pence, right) with her family at Joe Biden's inauguration in 2021. Photo / Getty Images

Young voters

Experts think Emhoff could help Harris engage young left-wing voters ahead of the presidential election in November.

“First of all, she’s an influencer, she’s a content creator, she has a level of celebrity”, Mark Beal, Rutgers University School of Communication and Information assistant professor said.

“It’s another dimension Kamala has for her election campaign. It’s a contributing factor to potentially engaging more of these 41 million eligible Gen Z voters.”

Raised in California, Emhoff attended the “independent and progressive” US$51,000-a-year ($86,000) Wildwood School in Los Angeles before studying at Parsons School of Design in New York’s Greenwich Village.

She has since 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 US$1.2 million flat in Lower Manhattan and has been dubbed “the first daughter of Bushwick”, in reference to the hipster Brooklyn area where she previously lived.

In one TikTok video, a supporter compared Emhoff to Naomi Biden, Joe Biden’s granddaughter, saying Emhoff is “the ticket”.

Last month she signed with the Hollywood talent agency UTA hoping to “do more knitwear collaborations with fashion brands”, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

In a 2021 interview with the New York Times, Emhoff said she and her 29-year-old brother were “really in” politics and “learning behind the scenes”.

Palestinian causes

But the politically engaged creative has twice come under fire for promoting fundraising pages for pro-Palestinian groups.

She was criticised 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 for the organisation amid allegations its workers aided the October 7 attacks in Israel.

In November 2023, she shared a link for a fundraiser for the “urgent relief for Gaza’s children” by the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund and was criticised for not mentioning the Israeli children killed in the attack by Hamas.

While her father is Jewish, Emhoff has previously said she does not consider herself to be.

“Ella truly has no qualms with the faith,” her representative told The Forward in 2021, “but she does not want to speak on behalf of Judaism, as she does not celebrate herself.”

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’

Last week, 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 the responsibility”.

“This is on all of us to show up, take action and vote for our future. We can be the change we want to see.”

She also reposted singer Charli XCX’s viral tweet saying “Kamala is brat” – an online reference to someonecomfortable being themselves – writing: “Charli XCX gets it.”

Charli XCX (L), the British singer who labelled Harris ‘brat’. Photos / Getty Images

Emhoff also hit back at Vance’s recently resurfaced comments likening Harris to a “childless cat lady”, writing on social media: “How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie-pie kids like Cole and I... I love my three parents”.

Beal said while he does not think Emhoff’s support would be a “major factor” in the 2024 election, it could help Harris appeal to younger voters who are more “issue-focused”.

“Everything she comments, shares, produces, distributes, it just needs to be genuine and authentic to her and her voice and her storytelling that she’s been doing for the last year or two, or three or four, that has led to … 330,000 followers,” he said.

“If she’s doing it [promoting Harris’s campaign] in the same voice... it could be very effective. It could be very influential.”