Doug Emhoff to Speak at Mock Convention Young Alumni Weekend Event The former second gentleman will participate in a fireside chat at 3 p.m. on Sept. 25 in University Chapel.

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
September 21, 2026

Washington and Lee University’s Mock Convention will host former second gentleman Doug Emhoff for its Young Alumni Weekend event, “One Tradition, One Colonnade.”

The event is open to the public and will be held at 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25 in University Chapel. Tickets ($100 for young alumni and $40 for students) are required and can be purchased online. An overflow watch party will be held in Stackhouse Theater, located in Elrod Commons.

Students and young alumni are invited to join Mock Con on the Colonnade for a reception with live music and refreshments from 12:30 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 25, celebrating the century-old tradition of W&L’s Mock Convention. A VIP reception will also be held ahead of the main event from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in Watson Galleries, where attendees can meet Emhoff and Adam Spanberger, first gentleman of Virginia. VIP tickets (starting at $250 for young alumni) are required and can be purchased online.

Emhoff served as the inaugural second gentleman of the United States from 2021-2025, during which time he spearheaded the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism and advocated for equal access to legal aid and the removal of legal barriers in the justice system. A partner at the global law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, he has more than three decades of experience as a litigator, trial lawyer and counsel to clients including global business leaders and has long championed causes of equity in the workplace and access to reproductive healthcare. Emhoff joined Georgetown Law in 2021 as a distinguished visitor from practice and is currently a distinguished visiting professor of law at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

W&L’s Mock Con is a mock presidential nominating convention held every four years by the students of W&L, with the goal of predicting whom the party out of power will nominate to run for president of the United States. Mock Con is one of W&L’s oldest traditions, with a 75% accuracy rate since its first convention in 1908. The committee’s goal is to promote civic activity and political engagement within the W&L community and beyond, and by the time of the convention, 95% of the student body will be involved with Mock Con in some capacity. The 29th W&L Mock Convention will be held in February 2028.