Doug Emhoff says leaving his law career to support Kamala Harris' campaign was 'a decision we made together'

• In a piece for GQ, second gentleman Doug Emhoff wrote about stepping into the historic role.
• He said that leaving his career for Kamala Harris' campaign was "a decision that we made together."
• "I may be the first Second Gentleman, but I know I won't be the last," he wrote.

Vice President Kamala Harris is making history as the first Black and South Asian woman to serve as vice president. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, is stepping into a historic role of his own as the country's first-ever second gentleman, leaving his law firm behind.

In a piece published by GQ Tuesday, he wrote about the decision to step back from his job to support his wife.

"Stepping back from my career as an entertainment lawyer was a decision that we made together - this was about something bigger than either of us," he wrote.

After Joe Biden announced Harris as his running mate in August 2020, Emhoff took a leave of absence from his law firm to support her political ambitions. After Biden and Harris won the election, Emhoff quit for good. Now, he will focus on his second gentleman duties and teach a class in entertainment law at Georgetown.

Read more: 10 things to know about Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris' husband and America's first second gentleman

Examples of men prioritizing their female partners' political careers are all too rare. For decades, political wives have left their jobs to support their spouses' roles with little fanfare. People often forget that Michelle Obama, a Harvard law graduate, was Barack's mentor at a prestigious law firm and worked as an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center, or that Hillary Rodham Clinton was named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by the National Law Journal - twice. Both left their careers to support their husbands' campaigns.

In his GQ piece, Emhoff paid tribute to the way women have shaped the role he now occupies as a political spouse.

"I am honored to be the first male spouse of an American President or Vice President. But here's the truth: generations of women before me have used this platform to advocate for causes they believe in and build trust in our institutions at home and abroad - often without much accolade or acknowledgment," he wrote. "It's on their shoulders I stand. And it's their legacy of progress I will try to build on as Second Gentleman."

Read more: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' husband is quitting his job, and future first lady Jill Biden plans to continue teaching. It signals a new era of political spouses.