Harris and Emhoff headed back to California after inauguration

Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff are heading back to California after the inauguration, a senior administration official confirmed Sunday. 

Harris, the official said, will take time to decide her next move. She is expected to write books about her time in politics and her interest in food and cooking, according to multiple sources. 

There have been discussions among her allies about a possible run for California’s open gubernatorial seat in 2026. Harris has yet to say whether she’ll run. 

Emhoff, the first man to serve as second gentleman, will leave Washington and return to his legal career, sources told CBS News Sunday.

Doug Emhoff had been a litigator and entertainment specialist in the firm DLA Piper’s Los Angeles office, but he severed ties with the firm when his wife was inaugurated four years ago. Now, sources tell CBS News, Emhoff will make a return to legal work, though with a different firm. The sources declined to identify the firm but said Emhoff is expected to divide time between the firm’s offices in New York and Los Angeles. 

A source with knowledge of Harris and Emhoff’s plans said they have been apartment hunting in Manhattan. The couple has a home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles that will serve as their primary residence. The neighborhood is not far from the recent wildfires that devastated parts of L.A.  

Emhoff has kept a low profile since Harris lost her bid for the presidency in November. Last week, he posted on social media an expression of gratitude for his time at Harris’s side in Washington: “Never did I imagine that this kid who grew up in New Jersey would one day be at the White House. It has been an incredible honor to serve as our nation’s first Second Gentleman,” he wrote.

During his time in Washington, Emhoff held on to ties to his legal career, serving as a “Distinguished Visitor from Practice” at Georgetown Law School. The school said his instruction would draw on his “deep expertise in media and entertainment matters to teach related coursework.” That included teaching a class on “Entertainment Law Disputes” and helping with an entertainment and media law initiative.

Arden Farhi and Ed O’Keefe contributed to this report.

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• Kamala Harris