Who is Usha Vance? JD Vance's wife is a Yale-educated lawyer

Usha is from California and was born to Indian immigrants

Usha Vance was born Usha Chilukuri in San Diego in 1986 to parents who immigrated from India. Her father, Krish, worked as an engineer and became a lecturer at San Diego State University. Her mother, Lakshmi, is a microbiologist and became rector at the University of California, San Diego.

Usha and her sister grew up in the suburban community of Rancho Peñasquitos in San Diego. She thrived at public Mt. Carmel High School before attending Yale University. After graduating in 2007, Usha had a teaching fellowship in China. She then earned a master's degree from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar.

Since Usha came to the public eye, she has been the subject of racist attacks because of her Indian-American identity. JD, for his part, has defended his wife on several occasions. “What kind of man marries Usha? “A very smart man and, above all, a very happy man,” he said.

Usha and JD Vance met while studying law and have three children

In 2010, Usha began studying at Yale Law School. In her first year, she took classes with JD Vance (then known as JD Hamel). Usha and JD soon became a couple; Their closeness led to classmates combining their names and calling the pair “Judusha.” In his 2016 memoir Hillbilly ElegyJD referred to her as his “spirit guide” at Yale when he was struggling to fit in.

In 2014, Usha and JD married in Kentucky and she became Usha Vance (JD changed his last name the previous year). After living in California and Washington DC, the Vances moved to Cincinnati in 2018. They have three children, including two sons and a daughter. Ewan was born in June 2017, followed by Vivek in February 2020 and Mirabel in December 2021.

She worked at the U.S. Supreme Court and a private law firm

After graduating from law school, Usha held prestigious clerkships, including for Brett Kavanaugh when he was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. In 2017–18, she served a Supreme Court clerkship with Chief Justice John Roberts.

Beyond her court positions, Usha was an associate at Munger Tolles & Olsen, a law firm with a self-described “radically progressive” culture, until her resignation in July 2024 when JD was elected Republican Vice President.

Usha was raised as a Hindu but attends the Catholic Church with her family

Her family's Hindu faith was an important part of Usha's childhood. In an interview with Fox News in June 2024, she said: “I grew up in a religious household. My parents are Hindu, and that was one of the things that made them such good parents, that makes them really, really good people.”

When the Vances married in 2014, their wedding events included a Hindu blessing ceremony. JD converted to Catholicism in 2019, but Usha did not. However, she supported his decision and accompanied him to church with her children.

The former Democrat is fully behind her husband and Trump

Usha was registered as a Democrat until 2014. After her husband became the Republican vice presidential nominee, an anonymous friend recounted The Washington Post Usha was “appalled by Trump” and disturbed by the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. But like JD, who also made a U-turn on Trump, The postreported comments from a Republican strategist and family friend who said Usha's views had changed and she now supported both her husband and Trump.

When JD was criticized this year for a 2021 remark that the United States was run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are unhappy with their own lives,” Usha defended her husband. In an interview with Fox News in August, she described JD's statement as “spicy.” “What he was really trying to say is that it can be really hard to be a parent in this country, and sometimes our policies are designed to make it even harder,” Usha said.

Sara Kettler is a Connecticut-based freelance writer who has written for Biography.com, History, and the A&E True Crime blog. She is a member of the Writers Guild of America and also writes crime novels. Outside of writing, she enjoys dogs, Broadway shows, and learning foreign languages.