Administration

Obama to Harris as she arrives to inauguration: ‘So proud of you’

Former President Obama greeted Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as she walked out onto the inauguration stage, telling her “[I’m] so proud of you.”

Annie Karni, White House correspondent for The New York Times, tweeted that Obama told Harris this as he greeted her and her husband Doug Emhoff.

As Harris walked out onto the inauguration stage, Obama fist-bumped her and her husband Emhoff. Emhoff will be the first second gentleman once Harris assumes the office of the vice president.

Both Harris and Obama have been campaign running mates with incoming President Joe Biden, and both are the first Black Americans to hold their respective offices. Obama was the first Black president and Harris will be the first female, Black and Asian American vice president in U.S. history.

Harris’s stepchildren and Emhoff’s adult children from his first marriage, Cole and Ella Emhoff, were also present at the inauguration, along with the various members of the Biden family. Biden’s two surviving children, Hunter and Ashley Biden, were both present at the inauguration.