Usha Vance, wife of JD Vance and Second Lady of the United States, has revealed she learned of her husband's vice-presidential nomination just “five minutes” before it became public.
“It really was like a bolt of lightning. You don't have an opportunity to think about it, or even to plan what it is that you'd like to do,” Usha, who is of Indian-origin, said in a podcast with US author Meghan McCain.
Usha Vance also faced questions about her role as the US Second Lady and the pressure of being the first woman of South Asian descent to be in that position. “Maybe we've just sort of moved beyond trying to count firsts of everything. I'm not sure, except when older Indian people kind of give me that look,” Usha said.
She also touched upon how her life changed since JD Vance became the Vice President. Usha said, “People call you ma'am. No one's ever called me ma'am before this.”
In July 2024, months ahead of the November presidential elections, Donald Trump announced 39-year-old JD Vance as his running mate. The announcement came on the first day of the Republican Party convention in Milwaukee.
A former venture capitalist and an author from Ohio, JD Vance was once a strong critic of Trump, and was known for calling him “America's Hitler” and an “idiot” after the 2016 election.
Much has changed since then. JD Vance turned into one of the most loyal supporters of Trump. He had even appeared in court to back Trump during his hush money trial.
Vance is a graduate of Yale Law School and a US Marine veteran.
Since Trump won the November 5 election, Vance's family has also been in the spotlight. Much of the attention has focused on Usha's Indian origins. Born in San Diego County, California, Usha is the daughter of Telugu immigrant parents.
Usha's father is a mechanical engineer, and her mother is a molecular biologist from Andhra Pradesh. She has a BA degree in history from Yale University and an MPhil in early modern history at Cambridge.
In 2010, while at Yale Law School, she met JD Vance and the couple wed in Kentucky in 2014. They have three children: two sons, Ewan and Vivek, and a daughter, Mirabel.
