On Nov. 7, many in America got their first look at what will soon be a familiar sight: the families ofJoe BidenandKamala Harrison stage together, after the then-president-elect and vice president-elect gave their victory speeches in the hotly contested 2020 election.
The first and second families reunited on Jan. 20, 2021, for thepresidential inauguration, which saw Joe Biden sworn in as the 46th President of the United States and Kamala Harris as the first-ever female, Black and South Asian American Vice President.
Below, a look at who’s who in the first and second families, from First Lady Jill Biden and first-ever “Second Gentleman” Doug Emhoff to Harris' young grandnieces.
Joe Biden’s Family
Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Jill Biden
Dr. Jill Biden (née Jacobs)first met the former vice president,now 78, when she was still in college. She reportedly turned down proposalsfive timesbefore agreeing to marry the then-Delaware senator, who had two young sons (Beau, the elder, and Hunter) from his previous marriage,which ended in tragedyafter a 1972 car wreck killed Biden’s first wife, Neilia, and their 13-month-old daughter, Naomi.
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The Bidens married in June 1977 and welcomed daughter Ashley in 1981. A longtime educator, Dr. Biden works at Northern Virginia Community College, where she teaches English. She has said she willcontinue to teachwhen she becomes first lady,as she didwhen she was second lady under PresidentBarack Obama.
Hunter Biden
Biden’s elder son Beau, a former National Guardsman and state attorney general, died from brain cancer in 2015. Beau was his dad’s “soul” and younger son Hunter is his “heart,” Biden has said.
But Hunter became a prime target for conservatives in the presidential election, as PresidentDonald Trumpargued his past business dealings overseas proved Hunter was corrupt while Trump’s allies attacked some of his personal problems, including a history of drug addiction about which he has spoken openly.
The president-elect hasdefended Hunter, 50, over both his addiction issues and previous business dealings, which government officials acknowledged created the perception of a conflict of interest though there has never been evidence of wrongdoing.
President Joe Biden (right) embraces First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, son Hunter Biden and daughter Ashley Biden after being sworn in during his inauguration.Drew Angerer/Getty
“My son, like a lot of people, like a lot of people you know at home, had a drug problem. He’s overtaken it. He’s fixed it. He’s worked on it. And I’m proud of him,” Biden said at the first presidential debate against Trump, in September 2020, after Trump derided Hunter’s struggles with drug use.
Hunter said onGood Morning Americalast year that he had shown “poor judgment” about his past business ties, given his dad’s government work, but he said that he did not “do anything improper.”
“Did I make a mistake? Well, maybe in the grand scheme of things, yeah,” he said then. “But did I make a mistake based upon some ethical lapse? Absolutely not.”
Speaking withThe New Yorker, he also talked about his drug issues.
“Look, everybody faces pain,” he told the magazine last year. “Everybody has trauma. There’s addiction in every family. I was in that darkness. I was in that tunnel — it’s a never-ending tunnel. You don’t get rid of it. You figure out how to deal with it.”
Dr. Jill Biden, Hunter Biden, his infant son with wife Melissa Cohen and other members of President Joe Biden’s family attend a farewell ceremony at the Major Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III National Guard/Reserve Center in Delaware in January.Chip Somodevilla/Getty
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Ashley Biden
Ashley, the president’s younger daughter (after daughter Naomi’s death in the ‘72 car crash) and the youngest of his children, appeared with her dad on thecampaign traila number of times and could be seendancing on stageafter his victory speech.
The 39-year-old studied cultural anthropology at Tulane University, received a master’s of social work from the University of Pennsylvania and was named executive director of the non-profit Delaware Center for Justice in 2014.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for GILT.
In the wake of her brother Beau’s death, she launched a non-profit clothing company called Livelihood which, according toMarie Claire, is currently undergoing a rebrand. ShemarriedPhiladelphia surgeon Howard Krein in a joint Catholic-Jewish church service in 2012.
She and Hunter took time to remember their late brother as they introduced their father as the Democratic presidential nominee for the first time at this year’sDemocratic National Convention.
Naomi Biden
The Biden grandchildren played a large part in the newly minted president’s campaign — and have a bigger even role in his personal life.
“Every single day, I speak to all five of my grandkids. Either on the phone, or I text with them,“Biden told Anderson Cooper during a March CNN town hall. “We sit on our back porch and they sit out on the lawn with two chairs there, and we talk about everything that is going on in their day. And talk about being home from school. And who’s driving whom crazy, and so on.”
Naomi is also active onTwitter, where she’s been critical of former President Trump and defended her father. She was the one to share a sweet image of the Biden grandchildren hugging Joe on Nov. 7, 2020 — the day the presidential race was called for him.
Finnegan Biden
The second daughter of Hunter and his first wife, Kathleen, Finnegan is 20 and appeared at grandfather Joe Biden’s sideon the campaign trailand at rallies. She was named after his mother, Jean Finnegan, whodied in 2010at the age of 92.
She helped her grandfather tap into a new voting audience during the campaign, sitting down for a chat with actress and first-time voter Maddie Ziegler to discuss the importance of the youth vote and getting first-time voters registered and energized for the election.
Maisy Biden
The youngest of Hunter and Kathleen’s kids, Maisy, 18, was also a regular on the trail.
She went live with Disney Channel star Olivia Rodrigo in October 2020 to talk “voting, the environment and her pop Joe,” as Rodrigo recapped on Instagram. Together, the two drove young voters to registration siteiwillvote.com.
In 2019, Maisy celebrated herhigh school graduationalongside schoolmate and friend Sasha Obama.
Natalie Biden
Natalie, 16, is the eldest child of the late Beau and his wife, Hallie. Natalie (center, in Flint, Michigan in October 2020 with her grandfather and cousin Maisy) appeared at the DNC alongside theother Biden granddaughtersin August. According toNBC News, it was Natalie and her sisters who first told their grandfather that he had won the 2020 election, as news broke of his victory early on Nov. 7.
Andrew Harnik/AP/Shutterstock
Robert “Hunter” Biden
Joe Biden and his grandchildren.Drew Angerer/Getty
In September, he appeared in a video alongside his sister and cousins as they recited the national anthem for the DNC.
Kamala Harris’ Family
Doug Emhoff
The Brooklyn-born entertainment lawyer worked as a partner atDLA Piper Law Firmin Los Angeles, though he went on leave to support his wife on the campaign trail and has since saidhe will leavehis practice entirely.
He has been a fixture of Harris' campaign, goingviralwhile dancing at the San Francisco Pride Parade and forpushing a protesterwho tried to confront Harris out of the way in June 2019.
“She’s got plenty of great people giving her political advice,” Emhoff told PEOPLE, on the eve of the Nov. 3 election. “I’m her partner, I’m her best friend and I’m her husband. And that’s what I’m here for. I’m here to have her back.”
Cole and Ella Emhoff
Though Harris did not have children of her own prior to meeting Emhoff, she gained two with Cole and Ella, his kids from a previous marriage. As Harris' stepchildren, they affectionately refer to her as “Momala.”
Harris wrote in a 2019Ellepiece that she and Emhoff, “put a lot of thought into when and how I would first meet the kids.” When they finally did, she wrote, “Cole and Ella could not have been more welcoming.” Harris has also said that she is close with Emhoff’s ex-wife Kerstin, a producer.
She wrote in her memoir that “we sometimes joke that our modern family is almost too functional.”
According toLinkedIn, Ella, 21, is a student at Parsons School of Design in New York City. She often posts her designs to herwell-curated Instagram account, where she’s even sold some of her wares.
Cole, 26 (below, right), is more private, though he did speak about his first meeting with Harris in a conversation with his dad and sister, recorded forGlamour.
Douglas Emhoff, left, and children Ella and Cole.Tony Avelar/AP/Shutterstock
“I think for all of us, it was love at first sight … I got to know her first on a much more personal level — her music tastes, her cooking, how she interacts with Doug, which was hilarious,” he said. “She would just be ribbing him. It was perfect.”
Maya Harris
A lawyer and political adviser, Harris' younger sister, Maya (below, right), has been arguably her closest aide and played an integral role in her campaign. The 52-year-old served as thechairwomanof Harris' 2020 presidential campaign, whichendedin December 2019. AsPoliticonotes, Maya was involved in every facet of her sister’s campaign and recruited staff, solicited donors and helped draft policy.
Meena Harris, Kamala Harris and Maya Harris.Meena Harris/Twitter
Maya, who previously worked as an adviser toHillary Clintonand as an on-air analyst forMSNBC, ismarriedto Tony West, the chief legal officer atUber.
Meena Harris
Maya’s daughter, Meena, has gained fame in her own right for her activesocial media presenceand videos of her aunt onTikTok. Above, the two are pictured together on her Instagram.
Like her mom and aunt, Meena, 36, is a lawyer as well as achildren’s book author. The Harvard and Stanford-educated attorney is also the founder of the Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign, an organization that brings awareness to social causes and creates limited runs of political- and Kamala Harris-themedclothing.
Meena’s Children
Meena has two kids with her husband, Nikolas Ajagu: 4-year-old Amara and Leela, age 2.
A video of Amara sitting on the then-vice president-elect’s lap was widely shared in the days leading up to the election.
Nikolas Ajagu with Leela and Amara.Alex Wong/Getty
“Well you could be president,” Harris can be heard telling Amara in the video. “But not right now. You have to be over the age of 35.”
The girls could also be seen in one of their mom’sInstagramposts, holding hands with Harris over a caption that read, “VICE PRESIDENT AUNTIE.”
source: people.com
