Milwaukee: Usha Vance, the Indian-origin wife of former US President Donald Trump's running mate JD Vance, introduced her husband at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday and delivered a heartfelt speech about why she loved and admired him. Usha's speech came before JD Vance formally accepted the Republican Party's nomination as Vice President for the upcoming elections in November.
"When I was asked to introduce my husband, JD Vance to all of you, I was at a loss. What can I say that hasn't already been said before? After all, the man was already the subject of a Ron Howard movie," she said. Usha Vance also talked about how they became friends after meeting at Yale Law School, and how her husband overcame childhood traumas as he rose to national fame.
She also described the couple's different backgrounds, as the Senator grew up in a poor Appalachian family. "I grew up in San Diego in a middle class community with two loving parents, both immigrants from India and a wonderful sister. That JD and I could meet at all, let alone fall in love and marry, is a testament to this great country," she added.
'Learned to cook Indian food from my mother'
Elaborating more on their cultural differences, Usha Vance described the 39-year-old Ohio Senator as a "meat and potatoes kind of guy", who quickly adapted to her vegetarian diet and learned to cook Indian food from her mother. "Before I knew it, he had become an integral part of my family, a person I could not man could not imagine living without. The JD I knew then is the same JD you see today, except for that beard, and his goals in this new role are the same that he has pursued for our family to keep people safe, to create opportunities to build a better life and to solve problems with an open mind," she said.
"It occurred to me that there was only one thing to do to explain from the heart why I love and admire JD and stand here beside him today and why he will make a great vice president of the United States,” the Indian-origin litigator further said. She also thanked the people for placing their trust in JD Vance who was "raised by his grandmother through times" and now has been chosen to lead the country through "some of its greatest challenges".
JD Vance praises wife's South Asian roots
"When I proposed to my wife, we were in law school and I said, honey, I come with $120,000 worth of law school debt and a cemetery plot on a mountainside in eastern Kentucky. And I guess standing here tonight, it's just gotten weirder and weirder, honey," he added.
As a daughter of Indian immigrants, Usha Vance had been the target of racist attacks on the social media platform X since Monday’s announcement of JD Vance being picked as Trump's running mate. With a kiss to his wife, Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance walked on to the stage at Fiserv Forum to accept his nomination.
Who is Usha Vance?
Usha Chilukuri Vance, 38, wife of JD Vance, is a Yale law graduate and attorney. Born Usha Chilukuri in 1986, she is the daughter of Indian immigrants in San Francisco with an impressive academic background and now works as a corporate litigator at a prestigious firm in San Francisco. She holds a bachelor's degree in History from Yale University and a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Cambridge, according to the New York Times.
Usha Vance has had a distinguished career, clerking for Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh before Kavanaugh's nomination to the Court. Her sterling academic achievements also include serving as Managing Editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Technology and Executive Development Editor of The Yale Law Journal. She later worked for Munger, Tolles and Olson, a California law firm that described its culture as "radically progressive".
Usha and JD Vance met at Yale Law School, graduating in 2013. Usha Vance served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and managing editor of the Yale Journal of Law & Technology and participated in classes offering free legal advice on Supreme Court and media freedom issues. The couple married in Kentucky in 2014 and were blessed by a Hindu priest in a separate ceremony.
Usha Vance played a subtle yet important role in her husband's rise to national fame - organising his ideas about social decline in rural White America that formed the basis of his 2016 bestseller "Hillbilly Elegy". She also made rare but well-choreographed appearances with JD Vance as he sought the Ohio Senate seat.
(with inputs from agencies)
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