Some members of Joe and Jill Biden’s family have been our neighbors for years. (But did you know Hunter is now an artist?) The incoming Second Family—apart from a couple members of the extended clan—are much newer to Washington. Here’s a quick guide to who’s who and how much we might expect to see them around town.
Jill Biden, 69
**America’s First Working First Lady**
Jill continued teaching English at Northern Virginia Community College as America’s Second Lady and intends to do the same while covering down in the East Wing, becoming the first presidential spouse to also hold a full-time outside job. According to student reviews, Jill is a tough grader. In 2012, she published a children’s book, Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops, written from the perspective of her granddaughter Natalie, whose late father, Beau, served in the Delaware National Guard. A longtime teacher, Jill made community colleges a priority as Second Lady—expect her to continue advocating for education and military families while in the White House.
Hunter Biden, 50
Wife: Melissa Cohen
Children: Naomi, Finnegan, Maisy, Beau
The Bidens’ scandal-following younger son was absent on the campaign trail—unsurprising given that Hunter’s business dealings with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma (and his addiction struggles) were a hallmark of GOP attacks on Dad. After a career as an investor, lawyer, and lobbyist, Hunter is now a self-taught artist creating mixed-media abstracts out of his studio in LA. In addition to raising three daughters in Washington with ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, Hunter has a nine-month-old son with wife and South African filmmaker Melissa Cohen. An Arkansas judge found he’s also the father of a two-year-old with a woman there, court documents show. She and Biden reached a settlement in a child-support case in early 2020.
Hallie Biden, 47
Husband: Beau Biden (deceased)
Children: Natalie and Robert
The widow of the Bidens’ elder son, Beau, she lives with her kids in Wilmington, where she has worked as an admissions counselor at her high-school alma mater, the Tatnall School, and currently sits on the board of the Beau Biden Foundation. After her husband’s death, Hallie dated his brother, Hunter, for two years. As Hunter told the New Yorker, “We were sharing a very specific grief.”
Ashley Biden, 39
Husband: Howard Krein
The Bidens’ daughter, a longtime social worker, ran the Delaware Center for Justice, a nonprofit that advocates for criminal-justice reform, until 2019. She has also dabbled in fashion, at one point launching a collection of “socially conscious” hoodies, dubbed Livelihood. (Some proceeds went to community groups.) Hubby Howard is a head-and-neck surgeon and was an informal coronavirus adviser during Joe’s campaign, but don’t bet on Jared Kushner–style West Wing status—his practice is in Philadelphia.
Naomi Biden, 26
Parents: Hunter Biden and Kathleen Buhle
The eldest grandkid is the most visible of the cousins, sharing intimate snapshots of the family on her public Instagram account and tweeting to a following of 194,000. Naomi studied at the University of Pennsylvania with Tiffany Trump, who once posted a photo of the pair hanging out together in the Hamptons. After notching a Columbia law degree in spring 2020 amid Covid, Naomi teamed up with her long-term boyfriend and created an online tool for people to check their CARES Act benefit eligibility. She starts a new job this month with Arnold & Porter.
Finnegan Biden, 22
Parents: Hunter Biden and Kathleen Buhle
Following in her sister’s footsteps, Finnegan is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania. She was the most visible Biden grandchild during the 2020 race, appearing at campaign stops and virtual phone-banking sessions. She has also acquired a rep as The Activist Granddaughter after petitioning to change the grading policies at Penn and, as a DC high-schooler, organizing against the Sidwell Friends dress code.
Maisy Biden, 20
Parents: Hunter Biden and Kathleen Buhle
Hunter’s youngest daughter with Buhle may have learned some tips about managing the White House spotlight from a Sidwell pal: Sasha Obama. The two played basketball together—Barack Obama was Coach in Chief for a moment—and shared a graduation celebration in 2019. Now at Penn with elder sister Finnegan, Maisy often posts earnest-humorous TikTok videos of herself dancing and lip-synching while wearing . . . Biden merch.
Natalie Biden, 16
Parents: Beau and Hallie Biden
Beau and Hallie’s eldest maintains a more private life in Wilmington than her Washington-raised cousins. She was recently confirmed at the Bidens’ longtime Delaware church, St. Joseph on the Brandywine, and is a field-hockey player. She beats cousin Maisy in TikTok followers (1.4 million), even though she’s new to Gen Z’s favorite social media and has posted only four times.
Robert “Hunter” Biden, 14
Parents: Beau and Hallie Biden
The youngest of Beau and Hallie’s children also lives in Wilmington. He appeared in a video of the grandkids reciting the Pledge of Allegiance during the Democratic National Convention.
Doug Emhoff, 56
**America’s First Second Gentleman**
The Second Couple were match made by a mutual friend, and their first public appearance was at a Harris work-related event when she was California’s AG. Kamala had never been married, and Doug was divorced. Once they became an item, her staff delineated time with “A.D.,” for “After Doug.” They married in 2014—he had been so eager to pop the question that instead of doing it while on vacation in Florence, he proposed while packing for the trip. Now Kamala’s husband of six years will check multiple “first” boxes when his wife becomes VP: He’s the first Jewish Second Gentleman to move into the Naval Observatory. The Hollywood entertainment lawyer was a partner at DLA Piper before severing ties with the firm due to its lobbying presence in Washington; he’ll be teaching entertainment law at Georgetown. Off the clock, we might see him heading out to golf or palling around with Chasten Buttigieg (the two spouses bonded when Pete and Kamala were primarying each other.) Doug is also a pro-basketball fan—but we don’t predict that the loyal Lakers supporter will now cheer on the Wizards.
Cole Emhoff, 26
Parents: Doug Emhoff and Kerstin Emhoff
The Colorado College alum was a senior in high school (proudly progressive Wildwood in West Los Angeles) when he met Kamala, whom the stepkids refer to as Momala. He has said that when friends came to the house, he’d have to warn them about her protective, lawyerly grillings on their life plans and skills: “I remember the first time I brought my girlfriend over,” he told Glamour. “Kamala’s like, ‘Can you make a Caesar dressing? . . . Can you make homemade mayonnaise?’ ” Amid the pandemic, Cole wasn’t really seen out on the stump, but when Kamala debated Mike Pence in Salt Lake City, he showed up in shorts and Birkenstocks to watch her after a ten-hour drive from California. Mom Kerstin owns a production company, and he appears to be following her into show biz, living in LA and working as an executive producer at the production label Plan B Entertainment.
Ella Emhoff, 21
Parents: Doug Emhoff and Kerstin Emhoff
She’s a senior at Parson School of Design in New York City, studying apparel and textile—while also fielding commissions through her online knitwear shop, often selling her wares through Instagram. (Striped knit pants are an Ella Emhoff signature.) Unlike the elder Biden kids, she’s not prolific on social media—though when she does post to her 50K followers on Insta, each is like a miniature work of art. (She also paints pop art and crafts funky ceramics—think Hello Kitty pipes.) She’s the pastry chef of the family, who would prepare desserts for the Harris-Emhoff Sunday dinner ritual when the kids were younger. Since Covid hit, they all get together on Sundays over Zoom.
Maya Harris, 53
Husband: Tony West
Daughter: Meena Harris
Although she splits her time between New York and California, the new VP’s younger sister is a family fixture, often at Kamala’s side. (She also officiated at the Harris-Emhoff nuptials.) A civil-rights attorney, she’s become more of a political operative of late, working as a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, punditing for MSNBC, helming her sister’s 2020 presidential run, and then continuing to advise Kamala when she joined the Biden ticket. During the Obama years, when her husband, Tony West—now chief legal officer at Uber—was associate attorney general at the Justice Department, Maya was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
Meena Harris, 36
Mother: Maya Harris
Like mom Maya and aunt Kamala, the Oakland native pursued law (and practiced for a short time in DC); she has also worked at tech companies including Uber and Slack. She now runs a resistance-chic clothing line she founded, Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign, and published a bestselling children’s book, Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea. (Another comes out on January 19.) Married to Facebook’s head of global partnerships, she and husband Nikolas Ajagu are raising their two- and four-year-old daughters in the Bay Area. Still, Meena has been the social-media historian of her aunt’s political ascent, posting behind-the-scenes looks at the 2020 campaign to her massive followings on Instagram (428,000) and TikTok (1.5 million).
Photograph of Hallie Biden by Alamy; photographs of Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff by Adam Schultz/Biden for President; photograph of others courtesy of the Democratic National Convention.
This article appears in the January 2021 issue of Washingtonian.
