Who Is Usha Chilukuri Vance, Set to Become First Indian-Origin Second Lady Of US?

Last Updated:November 06, 2024, 3:26 PM IST

Usha Chilukuri Vance, wife of JD Vance, traces her roots to Andhra Pradesh and is a Yale-graduated lawyer with a set of impressive credentials.

As Donald Trump addressed a roaring crowd of his supporters at Palm Beach County Convention Centre in Florida on the verge of a historic election victory, he heaped praise on his running mate JD Vance and his Indian-American wife Usha Chilukuri Vance.

“I want to be the first one to congratulate — now I can say Vice President-elect JD Vance. And his remarkable and beautiful wife, Usha Vance,” he said. After Trump announced him to chants from the crowd, JD Vance told supporters, “We just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America.”

Now all eyes are on Usha Vance, a Yale-graduated lawyer who is set to become the first Indian-origin Second Lady of the United States. Usha Vance traces her roots to Andhra Pradesh and comes with a full bag of credentials and a touch of Indian culture in the American political system.

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Who Is Usha Chilukuri Vance?

Usha Vance was born to Indian immigrant parents in 1986 in San Diego and was raised in an upper-middle-class suburb. She has an impressive academic background and works as a corporate litigator at a prestigious firm in San Francisco. She holds a bachelor’s degree in History from Yale University and a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Cambridge, according to the New York Times.

Usha Vance’s distinguished career includes clerking for Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh before Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. She also served as the Managing Editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Technology and Executive Development Editor of The Yale Law Journal.

Before entering the legal field, Usha engaged in four years of intense extracurricular activity at Yale after which she continued her studies as a Gates fellow in Cambridge University. She met JD Vance at the Yale Law School, where the Ohio Senator got a scholarship, and the couple married in Kentucky in 2014 and were blessed by a Hindu priest in a separate ceremony. The couple has three children – Ewan, 6, Vivek, 4, and Mirabel, 2.

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How Usha Vance Contributed To Her Husband’s Rise?

The 38-year-old Usha Vance played an important role in her husband’s rise to national fame – organising his ideas about the social decline in rural White America that formed the basis of his 2016 bestseller “Hillbilly Elegy”. JD Vance was once a harsh Trump critic, once comparing him to Adolf Hitler.

“I’m not raring to change anything about our lives right now, but I believe in JD, and I really love him, and so we’ll just sort of see what happens with our life,” she said in an interview about her husband running for the second highest office in the United States. Interestingly, Usha Vance was a registered Democrat in 2014.

In her interview with Fox NewsUsha Vance spoke about the two living together while having different faiths. “I grew up in a religious household. My parents are Hindu, and that was one of the things that made them such good parents, that makes them really very good people. And so I think I’ve seen that…the power of that in my own life, and I knew that JD was searching for something. This just felt right for him,” she said.

Residents From Usha Vance’s Village Offer Prayers

As the election results flowed in, special prayers were offered for the success of JD Vance from the Vadluru village of Andhra Pradesh’s Godavari District, which is his wife’s native place. “The relations between America and India will improve if Trump becomes the President. There is a big fight between the two (Trump and Kamala Harris). We feel generally proud that (Usha) Vance is a native of Vadluru,” Ramana, a resident of the village, told news agency ANI.

“We hope she achieves victory in the election results that will bring pride to our village and country. We offered special prayers for Usha Vance’s success. The victory of Usha’s husband will advance the bilateral relationship between India and the US,” he added.

(with agency inputs)

Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)

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