Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is the type of "progressive sex symbol" modern women want, a liberal Washington Post columnist argued in her column published Friday.
"Move over, Ryan Gosling. The modern female fantasy is embodied by the man who might soon become our first First Gentleman,"Catherine Rampell wrote.
Since Gov. Tim Walz joined the 2024 Democratic ticket, media figures and Harris supporters have argued that Walz and Emhoff embrace a more modern version of masculinity that men should aspire to.
In leaving his prestigious law career to support Vice President Harris after the 2020 presidential race, Emhoff showed he was the kind of "fantasy man" women dream about, Rampell claimed in her column.
"Emhoff appears to be a genuine mensch with an impressive career. He’s smitten with his wife and supports her ambitions, as is obvious from his convention speech and their sweet interactions on the campaign trail," she continued. "But most important for this sexy sobriquet: Emhoff is secure enough with his own masculinity to sometimes prioritize his wife’s ambitions over his own."
"What. A. Hunk," she praised.
Rampell dismissed questions about Emhoff's role model husband status after he recently admitted to an extramarital affair that ended his first marriage.
"Whatever his previous marital drama, that makes him the working woman’s ideal partner today: He’s a high-achieving alpha, but isn’t threatened if his wife is, too," the columnist continued her argument. "He loves his job, but he loves his wife more. He knows that ‘supporting’ one’s family is about more than financial support, and that temporarily setting aside his own professional ego makes him no less of a man."
The columnist argued that the Democrats' version of masculinity stands in sharp contrast to Republicans' version of manliness.
"Women at least want a mate who won’t resent their career success — a tangible concern, given that divorce has been statistically more likely when women received job promotions or outearn their husbands. Hence, the Emhoffian ‘wife guy’ fantasy. Which, needless to say, sharply contrasts with conservatives’ portrayal of manliness," she argued.
"Instead of helping men appreciate how they fit into their evolving families and communities today, Trump offers sexist name-calling and weaponized nostalgia. 'Make America Great Again' means returning to a 1950s-era economy, with its attendant gender (and racial) roles," she scolded.
What women actually want is "to be valued and supported as much as they deserve," by their husbands in private and public, she wrote. "On that score, Emhoff looks like a dreamboat."
Rampell isn't the only media figure making this case. CNN anchor Dana Bash recently said that Democrats are trying to appeal to men who might not be as masculine as their Republican counterparts.
"But they are doing so in trying to put forward male figures, Tim Walz being one of them, Doug Emhoff last night, who can speak to men out there who might not be the sort of testosterone-laden, you know, gun-toting kind of guy who wants to listen to Hulk Hogan and the kind of players that came out at the RNC or might want to listen to that," she said.
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes also praised Walz's "different kind of masculinity" in comments last week.
"We’re kind of seeing it in the NFL with the Kelces, and Dan Campbell – this idea that ‘big, tough football guy’ isn’t separate from showing emotion and empathy," Kimes said on Pablo Torre's podcast. "Yes, they’re calling him ‘coach’ and what not, but in the same breath, they are emphasizing, ‘this man, the year he was a football coach, also ran the gay-straight alliance at the high school.’ That’s really powerful in a way that goes far beyond politics and electability, which is the discussion we’re having. There are very few models like that in American public life."
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.
