Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, told supporters on the University of Pittsburgh campus that next week’s election represents a harrowing moment for Jewish Americans like himself — but that his spouse’s support of Israel and Jewish Americans is “unwavering.”
“This has been a heartbreaking year to be a Jew in America,” Emhoff said in a 20-minute address at the University Club. “The question is, will next year be even harder for us? And for Americans of every background, for all of us who believe in freedom? That answer is in our hands. The answer is on our ballots.”
He said his spouse “feels what you and I and Jews across America are feeling today. She gets it. And to tell you the truth, it’s not just because she married a nice Jewish boy.”
As a prosecutor in California who pressed hate crime charges and later as a U.S. Senator, “She’s been working on a lot of these issues longer than I have," Emhoff said.
And that would continue if she were elected, he said: "Throughout her career, Kamala has strengthened the bonds between the United States and Israel. And she knows those bonds must remain strong."
Emhoff recalled a litany of threats to Jewish Americans, including the ongoing war in Gaza, recent acts of violence including an assault on the Pitt campus itself, and the political climate in general. Many Jews, he said, are experiencing a “deep sense of insecurity” and fear that they “are being targeted for being Jewish in ways that we thought only happened in our grandparents' time.”
Emhoff’s speech did not distinguish between the motives of attacks, some of which have arisen out of anger about the fate of Palestinians in Gaza, while others have stemmed from a conspiracy theory that Jews have sought to replace white Americans by bringing in immigrants. (The latter was cited by the gunman convicted of killing 11 worshippers and injuring seven others in 2018 at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill.)
While Emhoff focused his remarks largely on Harris’ support for Israel, he also said she was working for “a ceasefire to protect innocent civilians in Gaza … and for a reality in which Israel is secure and Palestinians know the dignity, freedom, and self-determination that they deserve.”
He was unsparing in his criticism of former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump, and in particular Trump's rally in Madison Square Garden on Sunday — a date that coincided with the sixth anniversary of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.
Trump, he noted, has suggested that Jews would bear “a lot” of the blame if he lost, and said the Republican “demeans immigrants with the same hateful slurs hurled at our ancestors.” Citing a report that Trump has denied, Emhoff said he “looks at Adolf Hitler’s generals and sees something to admire. … You do not reward someone like that.”
“We heard the antisemitic and racist speeches at Trump’s Madison Square rally yesterday,” Emhoff added. “It’s appalling to hear these slurs, especially in the closing days of a presidential campaign, and even more painful to hear them on the anniversary of the massacre at Tree of Life.”
That rally has attracted a firestorm of criticism, in part because of Trump’s choice of location — Madison Square Garden was the site of a massive rally of Nazi sympathizers in 1939 — as well as a routine by purported conservative comic Tony Hinchcliffe, who trafficked in a number of ethnic jokes.
(The part of Hinchcliffe’s routine that attracted the most controversy involved disparaging remarks he made about Puerto Rico. But he also mockingly suggested that Israelis and Palestinians should resolve their differences with a game of "Rock, Paper Scissors" — while adding that “Jews have a hard time throwing that paper” and making hand motions that suggested dollar bills.)
Some Republicans have themselves criticized the routine: The Trump campaign has said the Puerto Rico joke did “not reflect the views of President Trump.” But they’ve noted that Trump and others in the party have been staunch supporters of Israel during the ongoing war in Gaza and Lebanon. At times, speakers at Sunday’s rally cited antisemitism to denounce their opponents, as when radio host Sid Rosenberg called Democrats “a bunch of degenerates” as well as “Jew-haters and lowlifes.”
Emhoff’s speech, in fact, comes at a time when there are signs that some Jewish voters are rethinking longstanding ties with the Democratic Party, amid concerns that some in the party are too hostile to Israel and potentially to American Jews as well.
Such issues have played out in down-ballot races as well, including local Congressional Rep. Summer Lee’s primary earlier this year, even as Harris and the rest of the Biden Administration have continued to provide considerable support to Israel’s defense. That, in turn, has alienated some Palestinian and Muslim Americans, many of whom are also part of the Democratic coalition.
But Emhoff said that in the end, Trump’s support of Israel could not be relied upon.
“If it suited his selfish interests, Trump would turn his back on Israel and the Jewish people on a dime,” he said. “He would do it.”
Meryl Ainsman, a leader in a number of local Jewish groups, hailed Emhoff for his previous visits to the region area after the synagogue shooting, and for living his faith publicly: “No one does Jewish joy like our Second Gentleman,” she said. And she praised Harris, who she said “has always stood up to hate and antisemitism.”
Emhoff said Jewish Americans could also look forward to another landmark moment if he and his wife were ushered into the White House. Referring to the scroll of religious texts that many Jews post at their door, he said that “With your help, the White House residence could … have a mezuzah on its door.”
According to the Harris campaign, Emhoff later went to Taylor Allderdice High School, where he took part in a roundtable discussion with students, local Jewish leaders, and family members of the synagogue shooting. He then attended the Steelers Monday night football game in the company of former US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides, and the family of minority team owner Larry Paul.
