The Indian-American attorney Usha Chilukuri Vance hit the limelight across the United States recently after it was announced that her husband, JD Vance, had been chosen by Donald Trump as he Running Mate in the forthcoming presidential election. The 38-year-old Usha can become the first of her origin to be a second lady if Trump and Vance win against current President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on November 5.
She stood by her husband, 39, on Monday as he got the nomination through an acclimation vote from delegates—the couple warmly interacting with convention attendees. Raised in a suburb of San Diego as the daughter of Indian immigrants, Usha has been described by childhood friends as a both a "leader" and a "bookworm." Until 2014, she was registered as a Democrat.
A graduate of Yale Law School, Usha is a civil litigation attorney at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. She clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and for Justice Brett Kavanaugh while he sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Other previous work was done for the Southern District of New York. Usha and JD met while they were students at Yale Law School.
According to The New York Post, if JD Vance wins, Usha will also be the first Hindu spouse of a vice president, following in the footsteps of Doug Emhoff, who was the first Jewish spouse for the vice presidency. Marrying in 2014 in Kentucky, the two had a Hindu priest bless their marriage at a follow-up ceremony, another profile from The New York Times reveals. The pair has three kids together — boys Ewan and Vivek, and a daughter named Mirabel.
Usha has expressed some hesitation about increasing her public presence. In a joint interview with her husband on "Fox & Friends," she called JD's winning Senate campaign in 2022 "an adventure," adding, "I'm not raring to change anything about our lives right now." She stressed, "I believe in JD and I really love him, and so we'll just sort of see what happens with our life — where we're open."
JD said that although Usha is "not a Christian, she has been "very supportive"' of his burgeoning faith. As for how they work through the challenges and misunderstandings inherent in an interfaith marriage, Usha said, "We just talk a lot" about the things they agree upon, specifically family life and rearing children.
A graduate of Yale, where she earned a bachelor's degree in history, Usha went on to earn a master's in philosophy from the University of Cambridge, before heading to law school. Though she hasn't been involved in many public events, she has appeared in some talk shows. Lately, she was spotted with JD on the floor of the Republican National Convention part of Ohio's delegation. JD Vance keeps his children mostly away from the public eye, but he has briefly mentioned them over the years.
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