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Journalism of Courage
When JD Vance stepped onto the Republican National Convention floor to accept the vice-presidential nomination on Monday, he was met with high praise for his credentials. But did you know that the Ohio senator, running alongside Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, is married to Indian origin Usha Vance who he often praises? Despite staying out of the political spotlight, Mrs Vance, 38, significantly influences her husband’s career.
In a recent interview with Fox News, she stated, “I believe in JD, and I really love him, and so we’ll just sort of see what happens with our life.” The couple met in 2013 as students at Yale Law School, where they participated in a discussion group on “social decline in white America,” an experience that helped shape JD Vance’s 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which was later adapted into a 2020 film directed by Ron Howard.
In his memoir, Vance recounts falling for a classmate who was also his partner on a writing assignment. He described her as “bright, hardworking, tall, and beautiful,” with a great sense of humour and a direct way of speaking. Their relationship began at the end of their first year, and after just one date, he confessed his love for her, breaking all his dating rules.
JD, 39, has called Usha his “Yale spirit guide.” Their bond deepened as they clerked together in northern Kentucky, and Usha helped him work through emotional challenges from his traumatic childhood. Her Indian family also provided Vance with new perspectives and a sense of family he had missed. Reflecting on his first Thanksgiving with her family, Vance was struck by their warmth and genuine connections.
The couple married in 2014 and have three children: sons Ewan and Vivek, and daughter Mirabel. Usha, born to Indian parents and raised in San Diego, California, has an impressive background. Her mother, Lakshmi Chilukuri, is a marine molecular biologist and biochemist and a provost at the University of California San Diego, while her father is an engineer. Usha studied history at Yale and Cambridge before returning to Yale to become a lawyer, eventually clerking for US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
In a 2020 interview on the Megyn Kelly Show podcast, JD said, “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.” He praised her intelligence, noting her ability to read a 1,000-page book in just a few hours, and described her as the “powerful female voice on his left shoulder,” providing him with guidance.
