Doug Emhoff came to Martha’s Vineyard on Monday to campaign for his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, just 99 days before the election.

Though Massachusetts and the Vineyard will almost assuredly vote for the Democratic candidate in the November election, Mr. Emhoff attended a pair of private Island fundraisers as the campaign kicked into gear.

Before a crowd of donors at the Vineyard Haven home of Ken and Dede Feinberg, Mr. Emhoff said the Harris campaign is strong but that there is tremendous work to be done in order to secure a victory.

“It’s good to be back on Martha’s Vineyard,” Mr. Emhoff said. “You can feel when you get off that plane the relaxation and the stress [release], but that’s why I’m leaving in a few hours. I cannot afford to be relaxed and I do need to continue to feel a little stress.”

Within the first week, Ms. Harris’ campaign raised more than $200 million, rallied 170,000 volunteers and received hundreds of endorsements including President Joe Biden, former President Obama and former President Bill Clinton. If Ms. Harris is elected President, Mr. Emhoff would become the nation’s first first gentleman. 

But polls show Ms. Harris is slightly behind former President Donald Trump.

Mr. Emhoff reminded the crowd about what life was like when Mr. Trump was in the oval office, and blamed the former President’s actions for causing thousands of Covid-19 deaths and the insurrection on the capitol.

“He is a worse version of what he was before,” Mr. Emhoff said.

Mr. Emhoff said Mr. Trump is threatening democracy and referenced Project 2025, a collection of policies Mr. Trump has claimed to know nothing about that were written by the conservative group, The Heritage Foundation. Mr. Emhoff explained that if Mr. Trump were to win this election, there might not be another one.

“Listen to what he’s really saying,” Mr. Emhoff said. “Your vote won’t matter in four years. Project 2025 is a blueprint to destroy our democracy.”

The second gentleman also warned the crowd about Mr. Trump’s running mate and Ohio senator J.D. Vance, who Mr. Emhoff called “Trump’s weirdo sidekick.”

“You want this guy a heartbeat away from the Presidency?” Mr. Emhoff asked the crowd.

He then referenced a comment Mr. Vance made in an interview on Fox News with political commentator Tucker Carlson back in 2021, where he said the nation was run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies miserable at their own lives”. 

The comment, directed toward Democrats and Ms. Harris, has resurfaced in recent months and Mr. Vance doubled down on his cat lady comments on Sunday during an interview with Fox News, apologizing only to cats.

Mr. Emhoff told the crowd that not only were Mr. Vance’s comments disgusting, but they were ill-informed. He said Ms. Harris is an amazing co-parent to his two children, who were born from his previous marriage with film producer Kerstin Emhoff.

“His version of leadership is that ‘I’m only going to care about this very limited group of Americans’ that makes up what he believes is a family, and we know, there’s all kinds of families, including mine,” Mr. Emhoff said. “...there’s so many families like this around our country that are going to want leadership too.”

But Mr. Emhoff said not all hope is lost, and that Ms. Harris is committed to serving the American people.

“We have a leader we can get behind,” Mr. Emhoff said and praised his wife for believing in the importance of teaching history and reading books.

After Mr. Emhoff spoke, guest Hawaii Gov. Josh Green voiced his enthusiasm for the Harris campaign to the crowd. Shortly after, comedian David Letterman joined Mr. Emhoff on stage. Their conversation was closed to the press.

Mr. Emhoff then went to the home of Steven and Terri Ewing in Oak Bluffs to speak intimately with a crowd of close friends and supporters. Ms. Harris’ sister, Vineyard resident Maya Lakshmi Harris, was in the crowd cheering on her brother-in-law.

Mr. Ewing and his wife knew Ms. Harris and Mr. Emhoff when Ms. Harris was a prosecutor in California and before the second couple were married. They both noted how, through Mr. Emhoff’s support for his wife, he demonstrates his commitment to the nation.

“We have a chance for this to be the most powerful couple in the world,” Mr. Ewing said.

Mr. Emhoff spoke about the need for the campaign to persist no matter what Mr. Trump throws at them, then shared a personal account of how he’s been feeling the past week campaigning.

Just over a week ago, Mr. Emhoff was visiting family and campaigning for President Biden’s re-election. His flight was delayed, so he decided to meet some friends at an hour-long cycling class. He recounted how he left his phone in the car, and completely missed the announcement that Mr. Biden had dropped out of the election and endorsed Ms. Harris as the new nominee.

“I got into the car and my phone has just smoke coming out of it,” Mr. Emhoff said.

He told the crowd how he finally reached Ms. Harris and she told him they had to get to work. He then spoke about what it was like to hear Mr. Biden talk about stepping out of the race and endorsing Ms. Harris. 

“All of us got emotional and all of us thought about that great man and what he just did for his country,” Mr. Emhoff said. “... I’m choked up because of the abnormality of the moment, hearing from our great President about to introduce our next president, who happens to be your friend and my wife.”