AOhio Senator JD Vance was preparing 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 enjoy the moment with his wife, Usha Vance.
The couple, who met at Yale Law School, kissed backstage and then took to the dance floor together, greeted by a wave of applause and chants of “JD” reverberating through the arena as he was named by voice vote to be teammates. Trump ticket. The moment capped a dramatic development for the first-term senator and former Trump critic, who quickly rose to become a central 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 spoke highly of his wife in interviews, describing her as exceptionally intelligent and more talented than he was. Here’s what you should know about Usha Vance.
She graduated 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 dean of the Sixth College at the University of California, San Diego, while Usha’s father is an engineer. Usha graduated from Yale University and later completed a Masters in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, after receiving the Gates Cambridge Scholarship.
After her time at Cambridge, she returned to Yale to study law, where she met JD Vance and served in editorial roles 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 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 strange to me, Usha’s presence made me feel at home,” he wrote, adding that she “always encouraged me to look for opportunities I didn’t even know existed.”
The couple graduated in 2013 and got married the following year. They have three children together: Ewan (6 years old), Vivek (4) and Mirabel (2).
She worked for conservative judges
After law school, Usha Vance spent a year in 2014 and 2015 clerking 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 the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Court, John Roberts, as of 2017 and 2018.
Both Roberts and Kavanaugh, the latter nominated by Trump 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.
See more information: What the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling means for Trump’s criminal cases
Following her internship, Usha Vance joined the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson as an attorney, working in their San Francisco and Washington, DC offices. She left the company this week, shortly after her husband was chosen as Trump’s vice presidential running mate.
Usha Vance has largely kept her political views private and hasn’t 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, previous voter records indicate that Usha Vance was registered as a Democrat until at least 2014, according to the new York Times.
JD Vance credits her with reconnecting him to his faith
JD Vance has often praised his wife in interviews, describing her as a “powerful female voice” and saying she has had considerable influence on his career.
“Usha definitely brings me back down to Earth a little bit, and if I get a little cocky or too proud, I just remind myself that she’s a lot more accomplished than I am,” Vance said in a interview on the “Megyn Kelly Show” podcast in 2020. “I’m one of those guys who really benefits from having, like, a kind of powerful female voice on his left shoulder saying, ‘Don’t do this, do that’ — it’s just important.”
The daughter of immigrants, Usha Vance says she was raised Hindu and continues to practice the faith. “I grew up in a religious family, my parents are Hindu, and I think that was one of the things that made them good parents, that made them really, really good people,” she said in a statement. recent interview with Fox News. JD 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, something he says Usha has supported.
Asked if she’s ready for the scrutiny “that comes with being Second Lady,” Usha Vance told Fox: “I’m not eager to change anything in our lives right now, but I believe in JD and I really love him, and so That we’ll just see what happens with our life. She also suggested it was too early to discuss what political causes she might champion if her husband became vice president.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
