Former President Trump recently announced his choice of Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate at the Republican Convention in Milwaukee, receiving enthusiastic applause and celebration. This announcement has also brought attention to JD Vance’s wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, putting her in the spotlight.
Here are some key details about Usha Vance, the 38-year-old lawyer and San Diego native:
Daughter of Immigrants
Usha Vance is the daughter of academics Krish and Lakshmi Chilukuri, who immigrated to the United States from Andhra Pradesh, India. Her mother, a biologist, serves as a college provost at the University of California, San Diego, while her father is an engineer and lecturer at the San Diego State University College of Engineering.
Born in San Diego, Usha attended Mt. Carmel High School and later graduated from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom as a Gates Cambridge Scholar.
Meeting JD Vance at Yale
Usha met JD Vance at Yale, where she completed both her undergraduate and law degrees. She clerked for future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was an appeals court judge in Washington, D.C., and later clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts.
She has been a trial lawyer at the Munger, Tolles & Olson law firm for several years. Recently, the firm announced her departure, stating, “Usha has informed us she has decided to leave the firm. Usha has been an excellent lawyer and colleague, and we thank her for her years of work and wish her the best in her future career.”
Support for Sen. Vance
In a rare interview on “Fox & Friends,” Usha appeared alongside her husband, expressing her support for his bid to be Trump’s running mate. Although she typically stays out of the spotlight, she cautiously answered questions ranging from their faith to potential causes she might champion as the second lady.
Regarding the scrutiny that comes with the role, she said, “I don’t know if anyone is ever ready for that kind of scrutiny.” Reflecting on their first campaign experience, she noted, “It was so different from anything we’d ever done before. But it was an adventure. I guess the way that I put it is, I’m not raring to change anything about our lives right now. But I really, you know, believe in JD, and I really love him. And so we’ll just sort of see what happens with our lives.”
Successful Marriage through Communication
In the same interview, JD Vance mentioned his wife’s support as he reengaged with his Christian faith, despite her not sharing the same religion. “I had never been baptized. You know, I was raised Christian. I’d never baptized, so I was baptized first time in 2018. She was not raised Christian [and] is actually not a Christian. But I remember when I started to reengage with my own faith. She was very supportive.”
Usha added that she was raised in a Hindu household. She discussed merging their faiths, highlighting their agreement on family life and child-rearing. They have three children: Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel. “And so I think the answer really is we just talk a lot,” she said.
Mention in Vance’s Memoir
JD Vance mentioned Usha in his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” where he documented the start of their relationship. In the movie adaptation, Freida Pinto portrayed Usha. Vance described her as his “Yale spirit guide,” writing, “She instinctively understood the questions I didn’t even know to ask and she always encouraged me to seek opportunities that I didn’t know existed.”
In a 2020 interview on Megyn Kelly’s podcast, Vance spoke about the positive influence of his wife’s advice, saying, “I’m one of those guys who really benefits from having, like, a sort of powerful female voice on his left shoulder saying, ‘Don’t do that, do do that’ — it just is important.”