Emhoff makes Harris-Walz pitch to Jewish voters and girl dads in Philly collar counties

With just 23 days left until Election Day, second gentleman Doug Emhoff on Sunday celebrated his 60th birthday talking to – and being serenaded by – voters in Delaware and Montgomery counties.

Emhoff, the husband of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, said the stakes are too high in this election for him to be anywhere else.

“As Kamala has said many times and it’s true, this is not just the most important election of our lifetimes, it’s the most important in our nation’s history,” he said. 

Emhoff said Harris is “brilliant,” “competent,” and “ready to serve as president on Day One.”

He promised that she would fight for reproductive rights and Israel, and against gun violence, antisemitism and censorship. He also said Harris would work to create more economic opportunities through investments in clean energy and AI, and to make it more affordable to raise a family.

Emhoff spoke first to a crowd of about 150 Jewish voters gathered in Narberth Borough Hall in Montgomery County. There, he was joined by actor Ben Stiller, comedian Alex Edelman, and EGOT-winning composer and lyricist Benj Pasek.

They emphasized how important the Jewish vote is to this election. A majority of Jewish voters favor the Democratic Party, according to data from the Pew Research Center. And polls have shown that about 75% of Jewish voters have voted for the Democratic candidate in the last few presidential elections. 

However, an AP Votecast poll after the 2020 election showed that former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee in this year’s election, won more of the Jewish vote than he had in 2016. Some have questioned the accuracy of that poll, especially after Jewish lobbying group J Street released its own poll showing that Jewish voters were consistent and favored President Joe Biden over Trump 77% to 21%. 

Trump said during an Oct. 7 remembrance event last week that if Harris wins “there is a tremendous consequence for everything,” claiming the Oct. 7 attacks would not have happened if he were president.

Pennsylvania has the fifth largest Jewish population of any state, and the largest of any swing state. About 290,000 Jewish adults live in Pennsylvania, and 78% of them live in the Delaware Valley, according to a 2021 report from the American Jewish Population Project.

“Donald Trump has been saying that if he loses, it will be because of the Jews,” Edelman said. “Let’s make him right!”

Trump came under criticism for comments he made last month during a speech at the Israeli-American Council National Summit that if he doesn’t win the election “the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if it happens,” adding that “Israel, in my opinion, will cease to exist within two years.”

Trump says Jewish voters would be partly to blame for election loss

Pasek, who shared the stage with Edelman on Sunday, told the crowd that he had broken the Yom Kippur fast with Emhoff the night before and Emhoff “really is a good, menschy guy.”

Edelman said he has known Emhoff since 2022, and Emhoff “genuinely thinks about antisemitism.”

“He’s against it,” Pasek interjected, earning some laughs from the crowd.

Emhoff has been leading a White House task force focused on fighting antisemitism. The work, he said, wouldn’t have happened without Harris.

“This is because of her,” he told the Jewish voters. “She knew who I was when we met on our first date. She goes way back with the Jewish community.”

When she was a young girl, Harris went door-to-door with the Jewish National Fund’s blue box to collect donations to plant trees for Israel, Emhoff said.

“She was the one who took me to Israel,” Emhoff said, noting that he had always wanted to go but never found the time before. “She was the one who put the kippah on my head when we visited the old city.”

Emhoff said it was Harris’ suggestion that he lead the White House task force. And, he said, “When she wins, I’m going to continue all the work I’ve been doing.”

Harris promised Jewish voters in a call at the start of Yom Kippur on Friday that, if elected president, she will “always work to ensure the safety and security of the people of Israel and Jewish people here in the United States and around the world.”

She also promised to defend Israel from Iran and to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, saying, “Diplomacy is my preferred path to that end, but all options are on the table.”

Emhoff said he’s “so sick” of talking about Donald Trump, but he needed to.

“The laundry list of antisemitic things he’s said and done is longer than a CVS drug store receipt,” Emhoff said.

And, Emhoff said. Trump won’t debate Harris again because he’s afraid of her. “He’s just trying to run out the clock so people don’t see how binary this is,” he said.

Jaime Bassman, who is in her mid-40s and lives in Lower Merion, said this election is “so close.”

“We need to really make sure all Jewish voters understand the stakes,” she said. “Someone who cozies up to dictators does not have Israel’s best interests at heart.”

Bassman said she worries that Trump could “cozy up to Iran if it benefits him to do so.”

Karin Fox, of Narberth, said Trump’s presidency was chaotic and “there’s no way I can go back to that.”

She is an autism advocate and said she opposes Trump because he has said he wants to eliminate the Department of Education. She said the Department of Education under Biden is “the first Department of Education in so long that has been responsive. I feel like having Kamala (in office) will be a continuation of that.”

Sara Atkins, 45, of Lower Merion, said she has two young daughters with special needs and she’s concerned about the future of their education if Trump wins the election.

Because of Trump, she said, her daughters now “have less rights than I did when I was their age.”

If Trump wins and follows the plan laid out in Project 2025, Atkins said, “We would be basically becoming handmaids and we would not have the right to decide what to do with our own bodies.”

Atkins said she has met Harris many times and believes that “she truly understands our struggles and will be a phenomenal president for the people.”

Girl dad Emhoff talks to other girl dads in Delco

After he finished speaking to Jewish voters, Emhoff traveled to Morton, Delaware County, to speak to another group of people who shared Atkins’ concerns – girl dads.

The crowd of about 200 people included dads and moms, along with their daughters, who gathered  in Morton Borough Hall on National Father-Daughter Day to phone bank for Harris.

“Girl dad” became a popular moniker after basketball legend Kobe Bryant proudly proclaimed that “girls are the best” and he was a “girl dad” in 2018. It started trending on Twitter and Instagram after Bryant’s death in 2020.

And one Axios journalist suggested earlier this year that 2024 might be “the year of the girl dad.”

“Women have built tremendous momentum across our society, and Dads can keep it rolling if they support their girls in following their arrow,” George Moriarty wrote, listing the names of powerful women in sports, arts and entertainment, business and politics.

Emhoff was joined in Morton by his daughter Ella, Stiller, and TV producer and host Andy Cohen.

Cohen, the producer of “The Real Housewives” franchise, said, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the Real Housewives, it’s don’t tell a woman what to do. Men telling women what to do is so 18th century. And Kamala Harris said it best: I do not want to go back.”

Cohen has a daughter who is 2 and a half.

“I can tell you she is already strong and fierce and she rules my house,” he told the crowd. “That’s how it should be. Jewish women have run my life and I turned out OK.”

Emhoff said a dad’s job is to protect his family.

“Look out for your children and make sure they have the same rights their mothers and grandmothers had,” he said.

The things Trump has said and the plans laid out in Project 2025 “will continue to make women less than,” Emhoff said. “This is our generation’s chance to turn the page and put our kids on a better path.”