Ella Emhoff, Kamala Harris’s Stepdaughter, Wore a DNC Outfit that Triggered Conservatives’ Brain Worms

There are plenty of legitimate reasons why some voters might be shooting a narrow gaze at the pomp and circumstance of this year’s Democratic National Convention, not the least of which is the ever-climbing death toll in Gaza that brought out thousands of protesters on the first day of the DNC. (Check out our gallery featuring protesters outside the DNC here.)

A not-great reason to be annoying about the DNC: gender policing. But, as usual, the weirdos are being weird. After Ella Emhoff, the 25-year-old stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris and the daughter of her husband, Doug Emhoff, wore a sleeveless Helmut Lang top and the Chappell Roan merch rip-off “Harris-Walz” camo hat to the first night of the DNC, seemingly brain worm-infested right-wingers like pro-eugenics Richard Hanania were gagged. (Sorry to make fun of your lived experience, RFK, Jr.)

“Ella Emhoff being a part of the first family has the potential to radicalize American parents,” Hanania tweeted on Tuesday. “I’m for women living the lives they want, but this is pretty much the nightmare scenario for most people with a daughter.”

Back to good-versus-bad reasons: It could be appropriate to wonder why Ella rocked the aesthetic of countless butches, myself included, on the first night of the DNC. (Cue the jokes that Ella looked like she queens out over a lavender oat latte or that, representing the Bushwick delegation, she was giving, “threw the first brick at Myrtle-Broadway”). It would not, however, be appropriate at all to transvestigate Ella or call her the fear of parents nationwide for violating a very strict concept of what gender-marginalized people are “allowed” to look like in public.

It harkens back to the measly, snide remarks about “childless cat ladies” from vice presidential nominee JD Vance, and Ella then felt compelled to defend Harris. Meanwhile, right-wing activist Charlie Kirk complained about Ella visibly demonstrating a positive relationship with her dad, which, weird way to bring up your daddy issues, but I guess everybody needs an entry point to talk about the tough stuff.

Sitting here and lamenting that someone signed to IMG Models isn’t doing womanhood to your liking isn’t just bizarre and tacky, it’s also a way to target people without the privileges and security of a vice president’s daughter.

Just in case you weren’t aware, being a woman or LGBTQ+ person in this country sucks. Two years after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, abortion access has become what Human Rights Watch called a “human rights crisis.” Trans people are terrified the election is actually a ruling on their ability to access health care. Queer and trans people have spent the whole Biden presidency watching their communities be targeted by mass shooters, Nazis, and Republicans (with plenty of Democrats stepping back and letting it all roll). And marginalized people writ large have a lot to lose no matter what happens during this presidential election.