(NewsNation) — As Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, steps into the 2024 election as former President Donald Trump‘s running mate, he has the full support of his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance.
Trump announced his pick for vice president on Truth Social Monday as the Republican National Convention kicked off in Milwaukee.
However, the Ohio senator couldn’t have made it this far politically at just 39 years old without his wife and her guidance since their time together at Yale University.
Who is Usha Vance?
Born Usha Chilukuri to Indian immigrants, Usha Vance grew up in the suburbs of San Diego, California.
Known to family and friends as a “leader” and “bookworm,” the New York Times reported she was a star-studded student. She earned a four-year degree in history at Yale University and a master’s of philosophy at the University of Cambridge under a Gates Fellowship.
After receiving her master’s, Usha Vance returned to Yale for law school. It was at Yale Law School that she met JD Vance.
She also spent a year clerking for future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he served as an appeals court judge in Washington, followed by a year as a law clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts.
Relationship with JD Vance
In 2014, Usha and JD Vance were married in Kentucky. Since their union, they have had three kids together: Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel Vance.
JD Vance had previously said Usha Vance helped shape and actualize his career and ambitions, per the New York Times.
“Usha was like my Yale spirit guide,” JD Vance wrote in “Hillbilly Elegy.” “She instinctively understood the questions I didn’t even know to ask, and she always encouraged me to seek opportunities that I didn’t know existed.”
Political beliefs
In school, Usha Vance surrounded herself with mostly liberal and left-wing groups, the New York Times reported. In 2014, she registered herself as a Democrat, the report said.
However, more recent records from 2022 showed her registered as a Republican, the Washington Post reported.
As a lawyer, she worked as a corporate litigator at Munger, Tolles, and Olson, a national law firm known to be “radically progressive.”
While Usha Vance mostly stays out of the spotlight, she has strategically been beside JD Vance throughout his political campaign.
Shortly after Trump announced JD Vance’s bid for vice president, Usha Vance left her position at the law firm.
“In light of today’s news, I have resigned from my position at Munger, Tolles & Olson to focus on caring for our family,” she said in a statement.
Views on Trump
In 2016, JD Vance was a “never Trump” Republican. He called Trump “dangerous” and “unfit” for office. Usha Vance joined in on her husband’s criticism of the former president, calling out Trump’s racist rhetoric. She said Trump could be “America’s Hitler.”
However, by the time JD Vance met Trump in 2021, he had reversed his opinion, citing Trump’s accomplishments as president. Both men downplayed JD Vance’s past scathing criticism.
Usha Vance hasn’t said much recently regarding Trump, but during a recent interview with “Fox & Friends,” she pledged her full support to her husband.
“I’m not raring to change anything about our lives right now, but I believe in JD, and I really love him, and so we’ll just sort of see what happens with our life,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.