Progressive women's groups silent on second gentleman Doug Emhoff's affair
Several progressive women's groups were silent when asked by Fox News Digital about how second gentleman Doug Emhoff's affair when he was married to his ex-wife could affect his image as a leader championing their cause.
Fox News Digital sent an inquiry for comment to EMILYs List, the League of Women Voters, the Progressive Women's Alliance of West Michigan, the National Organization for Women, the National Women's Political Caucus, the Feminist Majority Foundation, the Institute for Women's Policy Research, the Women's Liberation Front and the International Center for Research on Women. None of the groups returned a request for comment about whether Emhoff should face heightened scrutiny as potentially the next first gentleman by press deadline.
As the Democratic Party's standard-bearer husband, Emhoff has been involved in a number of left-wing causes and has encouraged men to advocate for abortion in the aftermath of the summer 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Earlier this year, he teamed up with Men4Choice to tour Florida, Arizona and North Carolina to campaign for abortion rights. Meanwhile, his wife was making press stops at abortion clinics.
"This is an issue of fairness to women. Women are dying," Emhoff said in an NBC interview in May. "It’s affecting man’s ability to plan their lives. And it’s also an issue of what’s next, what other freedoms are at risk. And these freedoms are affecting all Americans, not just women."
Emhoff, Vice President Harris' husband, admitted to having an affair with a nanny shortly after the Daily Mail published a report last week that the second gentleman had an affair with his daughter's nanny and got her pregnant. The nanny's close friend told the outlet that she did not keep the baby but did not elaborate further.
"During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions. I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side," Emhoff told CNN last week of the affair.
Emhoff and his first wife were married from 1992 to 2008 and share two adult children. Harris married Emhoff in 2014 and helped co-parent his children, who call their stepmother "Mommala."
The divorce cited "irreconcilable differences" as the motivation behind parting ways, the New York Post reported.
Harris knew about the affair before they married, and the Biden 2020 campaign knew about it when it was vetting her for Biden's vice presidential pick, CNN reported.
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Kerstin Emhoff defended her ex in a statement to the Washington Post on Saturday.
"Doug and I decided to end our marriage for a variety of reasons, many years ago," she wrote. "He is a great father to our kids, continues to be a great friend to me and I am really proud of the warm and supportive blended family Doug, Kamala, and I have built together."
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Despite the affair and divorce, Kerstin Emhoff has posted supportive messages about her ex-husband's second wife and has endorsed Harris on social media.
Fox News Digital's Emma Colton contributed to this report.