Meet Usha Chilukuri Vance

Photo: Twitter

MILWAUKEE, WI (IANS) – On July 15, Donald Trump selected JD Vance, a first-time senator from Ohio, as his running mate for the vice-presidential post. Vance, who is 40 years younger than Trump, is making headlines not only for his selection but also for his Indian connection through his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance.

Usha Chilukuri Vance is the daughter of Indian immigrants from Andhra Pradesh. Born and raised in the US, Chilukuri is from San Diego, CA where she attended Mt. Carmel High School. She received her BA degree in history from Yale University in 2007 and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge in 2009, where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. Chilukuri taught American history as a Yale-China Teaching Fellow at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, before she returned to attend Yale law school.

She has served on the board of the Gates Cambridge Alumni Association and as secretary of the board of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She has clerked for Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Usha and JD Vance met at Yale Law School, where they developed a close relationship. The couple had two ceremonies for their wedding in 2014: a traditional wedding ceremony and a separate Hindu ceremony conducted by a Hindu priest, honoring Usha’s Hindu heritage. They have three children: Ewan, 6, Vivek, 4, and Mirabel, 2.

In a 2017 interview with NBC News, Usha recounted how they met, saying, “We were friends, and I liked that he was very diligent. He would show up at 9 a.m. appointments that I would set up for us to start working on the brief together.” JD Vance praised Usha for her unwavering faith and commitment to her beliefs, stating, “The thing that I remember most about Usha is just how completely forward and comfortable with herself she was. She is so defensive about the things that she really cared about.”

In an interview with Fox News, JD Vance explained how his Indian-origin wife’s Hindu faith had been instrumental in helping him navigate challenges and reconcile his Catholic beliefs. He revealed that he was raised Christian but never baptized until 2018. “Usha was actually raised non-Christian. But I remember when I started to re-engage with my faith, Usha was very supportive,” Vance said.

Usha has made rare appearances alongside her husband during his campaign for the Ohio Senate election in 2022.