Several progressive pro-choice women’s organizations have reportedly remained silent about Vice President Kamala Harris’s husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff’s alleged affair during his first marriage.
Groups such as EMILYs List, the Progressive Women’s Alliance of West Michigan, the National Organization for Women, the Women’s Liberation Front, and the Feminist Majority Foundation were among the groups that Fox News reached out to regarding Emhoff’s alleged affair with his children’s nanny.
EMILYs List is described as being a group that works to “elect Democratic pro-choice women up and down the ballot and across the country.” The Women’s Liberation Front describes itself as having a mission to “restore, protect, and advance the rights of women and girls using legal argument, policy advocacy, and public education.”
The groups were reportedly “silent” when the outlet asked them how Emhoff’s affair from his first marriage to film producer Kerstin Emhoff “could affect his image as a leader championing their cause.”
Emhoff issued a statement to CNN acknowledging that he had an affair during his first marriage, adding that he “took responsibility.”
“During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions,” Emhoff said. “I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side.”
Emhoff’s statement came after a report from the Daily Mail revealed Emhoff allegedly had an affair with Najen Naylor, 47, who had been the nanny to the Emhoff children and had allegedly gotten her pregnant.
While Emhoff did not address the allegations of a pregnancy with Naylor, a “close friend” who reportedly knew about the affair and pregnancy told the outlet that Naylor had not kept the baby.
Stacey Brooks, a friend of Naylor’s, reportedly did not deny the affair and pregnancy had occurred but would not discuss more without consent from Naylor.
During the affair, Naylor worked as a teacher and teaching assistant at the Willows Community School in Culver City, California, in addition to working as a nanny for the Emhoffs.
The Willows Community School, which teaches kindergarten through eighth grade, has tuition prices between $32,525 and $41,535.
Another friend reportedly claimed to the New York Post that Naylor had not been pregnant.
“Every parent wanted her to be the teacher for their kid,” the friend told the outlet. “She was the perfect person. She came from a good family. She was not pregnant. There was no baby. I would know.”
Emhoff has been an advocate for abortion. In an interview with NBC News, Emhoff spoke about how men should advocate for women’s abortion rights, describing it as “an issue of fairness to women.”
“This is an issue of fairness to women,” Emhoff told the outlet. “Women are dying. It’s affecting man’s ability to plan their lives. And it’s also an issue of what’s next, what other freedoms are at risk. And these freedoms are affecting all Americans, not just women.”