Usha, the wife of Senator JD Vance of Ohio, made her primetime debut Wednesday night when she introduced her husband as Donald Trump’s running mate ahead of his speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“I can safely say that neither JD nor I expected we would find ourselves in this situation, but it’s hard to imagine a more powerful example of the American dream,” Vance said.
“I am grateful to all of you for the trust you have placed in him and in our family,” she added before welcoming him to the stage.
The 38-year-old Ivy League-educated attorney was with the senator on the Congressional floor when he was officially nominated Monday as the Republican vice presidential nominee for 2024.
On Wednesday night, viewers from around the world watched as she delivered her first public speech at the Fiserv Forum since he was announced as the former president’s nominee.
Usha Vance takes the stage at the convention to introduce her husband JD Vance before he accepts the Republican nomination for vice president
“When I was asked to introduce you to my husband JD Vance, I was at my wits’ end. What can I say that hasn’t been said before? After all, the man was the subject of a Ron Howard movie,” she joked to begin, referring to the film version of his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”
The gorgeous woman had a big smile on her face as she stepped onto the stage in a deep blue dress.
She described Vance Wednesday Night as the most interesting person she knew, someone who had overcome childhood trauma and for whom it was a fun time to “play with puppies.”
She fondly remembers how Vance adapted to her vegetarian diet and learned to cook for her mother.
“Before I knew it, he had become an integral part of my family,” she recalls.
Vance has been thrust into the international spotlight this week and could easily become Second Lady if Republicans win the November election.
Senator JD Vance and Usha share a kiss after she welcomes him to the stage at the Republican convention. She said he is the same man she knew, but with a beard
Usha Vance takes the stage on the third day of the Republican National Convention
Usha Vance said her husband never imagined they would end up in the position they are in now, but called it a powerful “example of the American dream”
Usha Vance sits next to Donald Trump after a speech at the Republican National Convention as they watch her husband JD accept the vice presidential nomination
She hasn’t said what she’ll focus on if she gets the role, but Vance is a very talented actress in her own right.
Vance first met her husband JD when they were both students at Yale Law School in 2013. They married in 2014, shortly after graduating from law school.
In 2017, the couple welcomed the first of three children, Ewan Blaine. They also have a second son, Vivek, and welcomed a daughter Mirabel in December 2021.
Vance was recently asked if she’s prepared for all eyes to be on her if her husband is named Trump’s running mate.
“I don’t know if anyone is ever ready for that kind of criticism,” Vance told Fox & Friends last month before he was officially announced as the nominee.
“I think the first campaign he started was a shock to us. It was so different from anything we’d ever done before, but it was an adventure,” she said.
She told Fox at the time that she wasn’t eager to change anything in their lives, but that she truly believed in and loved her husband, so they would just have to wait and see what happened.
Usha and JD Vance arrive on the floor for the first day of the Republican National Convention on Monday
Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance kisses his wife Usha on the convention floor in Milwaukee on Monday as he is officially nominated for the GOP slate
Usha and JD Vance with their three children. They welcomed their first child in 2017. Their daughter Mirabel was born in December 2021
JD and Usha Vance with two of their three children Ewan and Vivek
The daughter of Indian immigrants, born Usha Chilukuri, Vance grew up in the suburbs of San Diego. She has said she was raised in a religious Hindu family.
From California, she moved across the country for college, attending Yale University where she studied history, then continued her studies at the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar.
At Yale Law School she was an editor of the Yale Law Journal and Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Journal of Law & Technology.
Until recently, Vance was an attorney at the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., where she focused on complex civil litigation and appeals. She left the firm after her husband was selected as Trump’s running mate.
Usha Chilukuri Vance stands with her husband JD Vance as he arrives for his 2022 election night party after being declared the winner of the Ohio Senate race on November 8, 2022.
The couple celebrates election night in 2022 after Vance won the Senate race. She described his first campaign in Ohio as an ‘adventure’
When her husband ran for Ohio Senate in 2022, Vance was seen at campaign events across the state.
She also appeared in his first campaign ads, in which she talked about raising Vance and having him by her side as a husband and parent to their children.
She describes him as a wonderful father and her best friend.
JD Vance kissed by his wife Usha on the night of the Ohio Senate primary on May 3, 2022
At Munger, Tolles & Olson, Vance’s cases focused on a wide range of topics, including higher education, local government, entertainment and technology.
She previously served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court. She also served as a law clerk to Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and to Judge Amul Thapar on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
At Yale Law School, she also participated in the Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic, the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, and the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project.
When asked last month what issues she would focus on if she became Second Lady, Vance declined to answer.