.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
Accomplished lawyer, proud Hindu, and the "voice of reason" over her husband's shoulder.
These are the three phases used most frequently to describe Usha Chilukuri Vance, the wife of Ohio Senator JD Vance – who was chosen by former President Donald Trump on Monday, 15 July, to be his running mate in the 2024 US presidential elections.
Vance, 38, a critic-turned supporter of Trump following the latter's win in the 2016 US election, had emerged as one of the foremost candidates in recent weeks expected to be picked by the Republican juggernaut as his vice-presidential nominee.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with his vice-presidential nominee Senator JD Vance, R-Ohio, during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday, 15 July.
(Photo: PTI)
While her husband is now in the glaring spotlight of American politics, Chilukuri, on the other hand, prefers to remain in the backdrop – as a silent but strong supporter of Vance's political accession.
Who Is Usha Chilukuri Vance?
Chilukuri, the daughter of Indian immigrants, was born in San Diego, California in 1986. Her impressive academic journey includes a degree in History from Yale University and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge.
After completing her education, Chilukuri joined the legal profession and served as a clerk for Supreme Court bigwigs John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh.
She met her husband JD Vance when they were both students at Yale Law School in 2013 and organised a discussion group on the "social decline of white America", as per a report by The New York Times. The couple got married in 2014 in Christian as well as Hindu ceremonies, and have three children: Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel, aged six, four, and two, respectively.
JD Vance and Usha Usha Chilukuri Vance on their wedding day in 2014.
(Photo Courtesy: X)
What makes their marriage unique is the lacuna of political differences that exist, or at least used to exist, between them.
While Vance has made his radical views known openly about his opposition to illegal immigration in the US, abortion rights, and his attacks against "woke" ideas pursued by Democrats, Chilukuri was a registered Democrat till at least 2014 and even engaged with left-wing groups while studying at Cambridge, according to reports. Further, she is currently working as a corporate litigator at a San Francisco law firm which highlights its reputation of being "radically progressive".
Influence of Hindu Faith
In an interview with Fox and Friends a few weeks ago, Vance said that his wife and her Hindu beliefs had a great influence in helping him navigate professional and personal challenges, including his initial aversion to religious faith.
Vance said that he was born a Christian but never got baptised, and that his wife showed him unwavering support when he began reengaging with his faith.
In the Fox interview, which the couple appeared for together, Chilukuri, who was born in a Hindu household, said that her religious upbringing has had a significant impact on her life as well as her relationship with her husband. Elaborating further, she says:
"There are a few different reasons. One is that 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."
The couple also says that given their different religious backgrounds, the way they bring up their children is by always keeping lines of communication open.
"We just talk a lot," Chilukuri emphasises, "There are just a lot of things we agree on, including family life and how to raise our kids."
In another interview Vance had given in 2020, he had said that he was "humbled" by his wife's academic and professional qualifications and considers her to be the "powerful female voice on his left shoulder".
"Usha definitely brings me back to Earth a little bit," he had said on the Megyn Kelly Show podcast in 2020, adding, "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."
In his 2016 bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy, in which Vance reflects on the socio-economic disruptions of his hometown in Ohio, the Republican VP pick had referred to his wife as his "Yale spirit guide".
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)