As Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance was getting ready to make his debut as former President Donald Trump’s new vice presidential pick on the first day of the Republican National Convention, he stopped for a second to soak in the moment with his wife, Usha Vance.
The couple, who met at Yale Law School, shared a kiss backstage and then strode onto the floor together, greeted by a wave of cheers and “J.D.” chants reverberating through the arena as he was nominated by voice vote to be Trump’s running mate. The moment culminated a dramatic evolution for the first-term Senator and former Trump critic who has quickly ascended to become a pivotal figure in the MAGA movement. But it also marked a significant new chapter for Usha Vance, as she was thrust into the national spotlight alongside her husband.
Notably, if the Trump-Vance ticket were to win in November, Usha Vance would make history as the first Indian American and first practicing Hindu to serve as Second Lady.
Vance has spoken highly of his wife in interviews, describing her as exceptionally intelligent and more accomplished than himself. Here’s what to know about Usha Vance.
She has degrees from Yale and Cambridge
Usha Chilukuri Vance, 38, was raised in a San Diego suburb by Indian immigrant parents. Her mother is a biologist and serves as the provost of Sixth College at the University of California, San Diego, while Usha’s father is an engineer. Usha received an undergraduate degree from Yale University and later completed a Master of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, after having received the Gates Cambridge Scholarship.
Following her time at Cambridge, she returned to Yale for law school, where she met J.D. Vance and served in editorial positions at the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Journal of Law & Technology. In his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, Vance recounted how they initially connected through a class writing assignment in which they were paired as partners, leading him to develop a deep affection for her. “In a place that always seemed a little foreign, Usha’s presence made me feel at home,” he wrote, adding that she “always encouraged me to seek opportunities that I didn’t know existed.”
The couple graduated in 2013 and married the following year. They have three children together: Ewan (age 6), Vivek (4), and Mirabel (2).
She clerked for conservative justices
After law school, Usha Vance spent a year between 2014 and 2015 as a clerk for Judge Brett Kavanaugh during his tenure on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, followed by a year clerking for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts from 2017 and 2018.
Both Roberts and Kavanaugh, the latter of whom Trump nominated to the Supreme Court in 2018, are prominent conservative justices and were among the majority who recently ruled in favor of Trump in a Supreme Court case involving presidential immunity for official acts.
Read More: What the Supreme Court’s Immunity Decision Means for Trump’s Criminal Cases
Following her clerkships, Usha Vance joined the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson as a trial lawyer, working in their San Francisco and Washington, D.C., offices. She departed from the firm this week shortly after her husband was selected as Trump’s vice presidential running mate.
Usha Vance has largely kept her political views private and has not been very vocal about her positions. As of 2022, voter records indicate that Usha Vance was registered as a Republican in Ohio and participated in the state’s Republican Senate primary in which her husband was a candidate. However, earlier voter records indicate that Usha Vance was registered as a Democrat until at least 2014, according to the New York Times.
J.D. Vance credits her with reconnecting him to his faith
J.D. Vance has often praised his wife in interviews, describing her as a “powerful female voice” and saying that she holds considerable influence over his career.
“Usha definitely brings me back to Earth a little bit, and if I maybe get a little bit too cocky or a little too proud, I just remind myself that she is way more accomplished than I am,” Vance said in an interview on the “Megyn Kelly Show” podcast in 2020. “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.”
The daughter of immigrants, Usha Vance says she was raised with Hinduism and continues to practice the faith. “I did grow up in a religious household, my parents are Hindu, and I think that was one of the things that made them such good parents, that make them really very good people,” she said in a recent interview with Fox News. J.D. Vance said during the same interview that his wife’s faith was a key factor in his decision to re-engage with Christianity later in his life, which he says Usha has been supportive of.
Asked if she’s ready for the scrutiny “that comes with being Second Lady,” Usha Vance told Fox: “I’m not raring to change anything about our lives right now, but I believe in J.D. and really love him, and so we’ll just sort of see what happens with our life.” She also suggested it was too soon to discuss what political causes she may champion if her husband becomes Vice President.
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