JD Vance family: Who is who?

WASHINGTON – J.D. Vance will be sworn in as the 50th vice president of the United States on Monday, Jan. 20.

President-elect Donald Trump announced Vance as his running mate in July 2024. Vance was a self-described “Never Trumper” just eight years ago. Now, he will serve as the second in command of the U.S.

Who is J.D. Vance?

The backstory:

J.D. Vance was born in Middletown, Ohio on Aug. 2, 1984. He attended Ohio State University and Yale Law School where he earned his law degree. Vance served in the Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007 and served in Operation Iraqi Freedom before entering the political arena.

Vance also became a best-selling author with his novel, “Hillbilly Elegy.” The book launched him into the political spotlight due to his ability to explain Trump’s appeal to the white working class.

The 39-year-old’s memoir, published the year Trump was elected, covered the childhood years he spent in Jackson, Kentucky, raised by his “Mamaw” and “Papaw” as his mother battled drug addiction.

In a 2016 interview about his book, Vance told a reporter that although his background would have made him a natural Trump supporter, “I’m definitely not gonna vote for Trump because I think that he’s projecting very complex problems onto simple villains. He is the most raw expression of a massive finger pointed at other people.”

He served as a U.S. senator for the state of Ohio beginning in 2023. He resigned his post as senator to become vice president on Jan. 10, 2025.

Vance married his wife, Usha Vance, in 2014. Together, they have three children. Here’s a look at his family:

Who is Usha Vance?

What we know:

Usha Vance will make history Monday as the first Indian American second lady in the White House, and the first Hindu second lady.

Usha Vance is an attorney, and served as a clerk for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts before working for the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson. She left her role at the law firm in July after her husband became the vice presidential nominee for the GOP.

Usha and J.D. Vance met at Yale Law School and have been married since 2014. In his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” JD Vance said the two got to know each other through a class assignment, where he soon “fell hard” for his writing partner.

After law school, she spent a year clerking for Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he served as an appeals court judge in Washington, followed by a year as a law clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts.

What She’s Said:

Usha Vance has said she grew up in a significantly different environment from her husband.

“My background is very different from JD’s. I grew up in San Diego, in a middle-class community with two loving parents, both immigrants from India, and a wonderful sister,” she said at the Republican National Convention. “That JD and I could meet at all, let alone fall in love and marry, is a testament to this great country.”

Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel Vance

What we know:

J.D. and Usha Vance have three kids together: Ewan Vance, Vivek Vance and Mirabel Vance. The couple keeps their children largely out of the spotlight.

Beverly Aikins

What we know:

J.D. Vance’s mother, Beverly Aikins, is from Middletown, Ohio. Vance wrote about his upbringing in his memoir ‘Hillbilly Elegy.’

Aikins struggled with addiction, which Vance wrote about in his memoir ‘Hillbilly Elegy.’ In the book, he talks about his childhood and upbringing in Ohio.

What She’s Said:

“It was heartbreaking in some parts,” said Aikins to the New York Times on reading the book. “But it helped us grow as a family, and it opened up a line of communication that we never really had. Addiction in our house was like the elephant in the room. Nobody ever said anything about it. We do now.”