Doug Emhoff blasts Trump and Vance for questioning Harris’ racial identity

Kamala Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, said former President Donald Trump’s questioning of the vice president’s racial identity is an insult meant to distract voters from his policy intentions.

“We’ve got to focus on what they’re really trying to do, which is to destroy our country,” Emhoff said during a campaign fundraiser in Maine Wednesday evening, pointing to the conservative transition plan Project 2025 and recent decisions from the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court, such as overturning the right to abortion.

For the second time in a week, Emhoff visited the Pine Tree State to garner support, and money, for the Harris campaign. On Sunday, the campaign announced it had raised $200 million in the first week after Harris declared she was running shortly after President Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed her.

As Democrats gathered at a private coastal residence in Yarmouth, the second gentleman spoke about what he called a “split screen” between the latest appearances of Harris, who as of Wednesday is the sole candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, and Trump, the Republican nominee.

Earlier Wednesday at a conference of the National Association of Black Journalists, Trump falsely claimed Harris “happened to turn Black” during her political career.

The comment came after ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott asked Trump whether he thought it was acceptable that Republican members of Congress have called Harris, who is the first Black and Asian American woman to serve as vice president, a so-called Diversity Equity and Inclusion hire. Trump didn’t answer the question and, instead, questioned whether Harris was Black, claiming she used to only promote her Indian heritage — even though she’d attended a historically Black college, a moderator pointed out. Her father is Jamaican, and her late mother was an Indian immigrant.

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Emhoff described Harris’ message as one rooted in joy and focused on a future where all belong.

Emhoff also recounted how the night prior, following Harris’ campaign rally in Atlanta, he’d opened his phone to a series of texts that read “say it to my face,” as friends echoed remarks the vice president made in response to Trump declining to debate her. The election is a choice between a prosecutor and a felon, Emhoff said, referring to Trump being convicted in May of covering up hush money paid to a porn star.

Harris started her political career as a prosecutor in California and served as district attorney of San Francisco and then California Attorney General. While her record as a prosecutor hurt her previous presidential campaign, the vice president’s history with the criminal legal system is now being touted as an asset.

Harris’ last bid for the presidential nomination did not make it to 2020, nor that year’s election, at least in part because she’d struggled to raise money, which has not been the case this time around.

When Biden announced he was ending his bid and endorsing Harris, the president turned over his campaign infrastructure to her and a surge of new donations immediately followed, with the Harris team raising more than $81 million in the subsequent 24 hours.

“We need to build on the momentum,” Emhoff told the roughly 100 fundraiser attendees Wednesday.

Harris had also struggled last time to stand out among the many contenders for the Democratic ticket. Now, recent polling of Maine voters puts Harris leading in a matchup with Trump, and as more popular than Biden.

According to a University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll released on July 25, 48% of likely Maine voters said they’d vote for Harris, whereas 40% would vote for Trump.

The remainder split between third party and independents, with 4% saying they would vote for independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who announced earlier this week he’d turned in the necessary signatures to be on Maine’s November ballot, setting up a potential ranked-choice race.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver and independent Cornel West each garnered 1% of Maine voters, according to the poll.

However, if likely Maine voters could only vote for Harris or Trump, that difference widened — with 54% for Harris and 45% for Trump.

“The choice could not be more clear,” Emhoff said, “and then you add his little sidekick,” referring to Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, who he again called an extremist and opportunist as he had during his first campaign stop in Maine last week.

Three days after Harris announced she planned to seek the Democratic nomination, Emhoff visited Portland to participate in a roundtable on reproductive rights, highlighting the threats to reproductive healthcare he foresees under another Trump presidency.

While the focus of the roundtable had been reproductive rights, Emhoff also took the opportunity to discuss threats to other rights, including fundamental privacy, due process and same-sex marriage — which he again spoke about on Wednesday.

After running through the many freedoms he sees at stake, Emhoff made a plea to fundraiser attendees to do more than donate. “Register people to vote,” Emhoff urged, specifically adding that he wants young people to understand that not voting is a vote for Trump. “Have a voting plan.”

Signs of the whirlwind Harris campaign ramp up were also clear in Yarmouth, as now-dated Biden-Harris signs lined the driveway leading to the fundraiser. Toward the end of his remarks, Emhoff said he’d connected with First Lady Jill Biden before the event, who told him to thank the fundraiser attendees.

“She would’ve been here,” Emhoff joked. “Now, I’m here.”

Describing the last 10 days as surreal, Emhoff said the time he’s spent with Harris since she launched her presidential bid has been fleeting as the two continue to crisscross the country.

“We’re moving,” he said, reflecting on the support that has come for Harris, financial and otherwise. “It is great, but 97 days.”

Maine Morning Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maine Morning Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lauren McCauley for questions: info@mainemorningstar.com. Follow Maine Morning Star on Facebook and X.