Former U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday (July 15) that he has chosen Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate for the 2024 presidential campaign. This decision has also brought 39-year-old Republican’s wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, into the spotlight.
Usha, 38, was born in San Diego, California, as the daughter of Indian immigrants. If J.D. Vance is elected Vice President in November, she will become the first Indian-American Second Lady in U.S. history.
The Vances got married in 2014 and have three children, two sons aged six and four, and a two-year-old daughter.
Usha’s parents are both scholars, born in India and later immigrated to the United States. Her mother is a biologist and serves as the Dean of Academic Affairs at the University of California, San Diego, while her father is an engineer and a lecturer at the San Diego State University College of Engineering.
Usha earned a Bachelor’s degree in History from Yale University and later pursued a Master’s degree in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge in the UK, during which she was awarded the Gates Cambridge scholarship. In 2013, she graduated from Yale Law School with a Juris Doctor degree and began her legal career, working as a clerk for then-Circuit Judge and current Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and later as a clerk for Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court John Roberts.
After becoming a lawyer in Washington D.C. in May 2019, she started working at the prominent law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, until earlier this month when the firm announced her resignation.
Usha and J.D. Vance met at Yale University. Although their families are harmonious, they practice different faiths, with J.D. Vance being a Roman Catholic and Usha practicing Hinduism.
In a statement, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP said, “Usha has informed us of her decision to leave the firm. She has been an excellent attorney and colleague, and we appreciate her work over the years and wish her all the best in her future career endeavors.”