Wife of Trump’s VP pick is Yale law graduate, daughter of Indian immigrants

Usha Vance is in the spotlight now that her husband, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, has been picked as Donald Trump’s running mate for the November presidential election.

The 38-year-old Yale Law School graduate and daughter of Indian immigrants was registered as a Democrat in 2014 but began voting in the Republican primaries in 2022, according to public records.

Here are some key facts about the potential second lady of the United States.

Family

Usha Vance’s parents, Krish and Lakshmi Chilukuri, are from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The pair eventually moved to San Diego, California, where their daughter was born.

Her father, Krish Chilukuri, is an engineer and a lecturer in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at San Diego State University. Lakshmi Chilukuri, her mother, is a biologist and provost at the University of California, San Diego.

Education

Usha Vance received her bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University before obtaining her master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Cambridge through the Gates Cambridge scholarship. She went on to get her law degree from Yale Law School, where she met her husband.

In his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance described his wife as his “Yale spirit guide,” crediting her for encouraging him “to seek opportunities that I didn’t know existed.” The two met through an assignment in class where he “fell hard” for her.

During their time at Yale, the two created a discussion group focused on “social decline in white America.”

The pair graduated in 2013, marrying a year after receiving their degrees.

Career

After graduation, Usha Vance worked as a law clerk for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, during his time as a Washington appeals court judge. She then went on to work as a law clerk for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

More recently, Usha Vance worked for Munger, Tolles & Olson, a Washington law firm that self-identifies as “radically progressive.” She left the firm this week following the announcement that her husband would be on the Republican presidential ticket. She had worked at the firm as a litigator since 2015. Her profile has since been removed from the firm’s website.

On Monday, when it was announced that J.D. Vance would be Trump’s running mate, Usha Vance told SFGate news, “In light of today’s news, I have resigned from my position at Munger, Tolles & Olson to focus on caring for our family.”

Religion

Usha Vance, like her parents, is a practicing Hindu. In an interview with “Fox & Friends,” she said that her parents’ faith “was one of the things that made them such good parents, that make them, really, very good people.” She attributed the positive experience with her parents as the reason she was supportive of her husband exploring his relationship with religion.

J.D. Vance was brought up Christian but identified as atheist during his undergraduate years at the Ohio State University. He was baptized as a Catholic in August 2019.

According to The New York Times, the couple’s union was blessed by a Hindu pandit in a ceremony separate from their wedding in 2014.

The Vances have three children: Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel. Usha Vance described what it’s like raising children in a household with two religions to “Fox & Friends.”

“There are a lot of things we just agree on,” she said. “I think the answer really is, we just talk a lot.”

The campaign

Throughout J.D. Vance’s run for Senate, Usha Vance made few appearances. She has not been particularly vocal about political issues.

When discussing the prospect of becoming the second lady with “Fox & Friends,” she said, “I’m not raring to change anything about our lives right now. But I really, you know, believe in J.D., and I really love him. And so we’ll just sort of see what happens with our lives.”