Before Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff’s speech Tuesday night at the DNC, Emhoff’s son, Cole, introduced him in a video recounting his father’s life — and how they came to know Kamala.
One moment in the video was a standout — Cole, explaining how protective Emhoff is of Harris, illustrated this with an image of Emhoff, looking furious, helping to drag a bearded man away from Harris.
The delegates and other DNC 2024 attendees knew what that image is from, but if you’re here, you might not remember. It’s understandable you might have forgotten it because it happened more than 5 years ago — before COVID even.
In 2019, then-California Senator Kamala Harris was speaking at MoveOn’s Big Ideas Forum in San Francisco, when a self-described animal rights protestor jumped onstage, ran over to Harris and ripped the mic out of her hand. He then began ranting about “a much bigger idea,” while apparently trying to follow Harris around the stage.
Moderator Karine Jean-Pierre attempted to both shield Harris and move the man, who continued ranting as Harris calmly moved away. Security attempted to remove the man, who resisted, and it’s at that point that Emhoff jumped onstage, helped them pull him offstage — and took the microphone back from him at the same time.
Harris departed the stage and returned minutes later. The protestor was ultimately ejected from the event but was not charged. As Harris reassured the crowd she was okay she was met with chants of “Kamala!”
MoveOn apologized for the protestor in a post on Twitter. “We sincerely regret that a protestor was able to gain access to the stage at our forum today & we apologize to Sen. @KamalaHarris. The protestor was removed & the program resumed. MoveOn members were excited to hear Harris continue to discuss her Big Idea to achieve pay equity.”
Sen. Cory Booker also spoke about the incident. He told CNN, “He crossed a line, this election’s going to go on and I’m really hoping that we see Secret Service and others begin to step in because that really could have been a horrifying moment. Kamala’s like a sister to me, I love her and that makes me very upset.”
“I’m a pacifist, but if you’re on that stage and you want to come at me in that way, it’s unacceptable and should be met with the appropriate level of force,” he added. “This is a risky endeavor, but Kamala is no shrinking violet. She is one of the toughest people I know. So I’m not worried about Kamala. At the end of the day she knows what she’s doing.”
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