Ella Emhoff Speaks at Democratic National Convention

Ella Emhoff, the stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris, spoke onstage at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday evening, alongside Meena Harris, Ms. Harris’s niece, and Helena Hudlin, Ms. Harris’s goddaughter whose mother introduced Ms. Emhoff’s father, Doug Emhoff, to Ms. Harris over a decade ago.

“Kamala came into my life when I was 14, famously a very easy time for a teenager,” Ms. Emhoff said. “Like a lot of young people, I didn’t always understand what I was feeling, but no matter what, Kamala was there for me. She was patient caring and always took me seriously. She’s never stopped listening to me and she’s not going to stop listening to all of us.”

She also described her stepmother’s focus on fighting for health, environmental and social justice. “She isn’t alone, we’re all in this fight together,” Ms. Emhoff, 25, said.

Ms. Emhoff and her family have been fixtures at this week’s events. Her brother, Cole Emhoff, introduced their father before his speech on Tuesday evening. Their mother, the film producer Kerstin Emhoff, has also been in attendance. (The couple divorced in 2009; Ms. Harris and Mr. Emhoff married in 2014.) In his speech, Mr. Emhoff proudly described his “big, beautiful blended family.” Before Ms. Emhoff took the stage, Ms. Harris’s grandnieces, with some help from the actor Kerry Washington, taught the crowd how to properly pronounce Ms. Harris’s name. “Comma-la!”

Ms. Emhoff had discussed her father’s speech on Instagram earlier in the week, writing “if you saw me cry on tv NO YOU DIDNT.” She continued, “Just kidding I was crying like a little baby.”

In the post, she included a photo of herself kissing her purse for the evening: a black leather bag with a fake chocolate chip cookie affixed to the front from the designer Puppets and Puppets that she paired with a plaid suit from Thom Browne.