From “spirit guide” to “powerful female voice on his left shoulder,” JD Vance has never shied away from crediting his wife, Usha Vance, for the impact she’s had on his life. The couple, often called the “It Couple” of US politics, have publicly stood by each other through every political, professional, and personal turn.
But his recent comment, that he hopes his Indian-origin wife will one day become a Christian, left many surprised. It came as a striking contrast to the story Vance once told about learning Hindu traditions and even having a Hindu wedding to honor her culture.
The 360 degree shift in Vance's stance on wife Usha's religious faith has made people uncomfortable, given the couple's fairy tale love story.
How they met: Two worlds collide
Usha Vance (née Chilukuri) grew up in the working-class suburbs of San Diego, California, the daughter of Indian immigrants from Andhra Pradesh, her father a mechanical engineer, her mother a molecular biologist.
JD Vance, meanwhile, was raised in Ohio, shaped by a turbulent childhood of economic hardship and family instability. Their paths could not have been more different, until Yale Law School.
At Yale, Usha was known for her generosity in an intensely competitive environment. Charles Tyler, now a law professor, told the BBC, “Usha Vance would take time to advise other students on how to apply for the highly prized judicial clerkships that she herself wanted.”
Another classmate recalled, “She would always share her outlines. They were, like, perfectly organised, you know, colour-coded, the works.”
Along with being the kindest soul, she also served as Executive Development Editor of the Yale Law Journal and Managing Editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Technology, according to a now-removed bio from her former firm, Munger, Tolles & Olson.
“Love at first sight”
Their friendship soon deepened. “They were always this match of very dissimilar people,” said Charles Tyler.
In Hillbilly Elegy, JD Vance confessed how overwhelmed he felt at Yale and how much Usha helped him adjust. “I have never felt out of place in my entire life,” he wrote. “But I did at Yale.”
He recalled one instance when she taught him how to navigate formal dining etiquette, “to pick the silverware from the outside in.”
Vance admitted he “violated every rule of modern dating” by telling her he was in love after their first date.
In a 2017 NBC News interview, Usha said they took most classes together and became close while working on a legal brief. “I’ve never seen anybody so starstruck,” their professor Amy Chua said. “It was love at first sight.”
The couple married in 2014 and now have three children.
Compromise and career shifts
On the first day of the Republican National Convention, when Donald Trump named JD Vance his vice-presidential running mate, Usha made her own major decision, stepping down from her position at Munger, Tolles & Olson. A spokesperson confirmed her departure to ABC News.
In her own words, Usha once highlighted the cultural give-and-take that defined their relationship: “Although he's a meat and potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and learned to cook food from my mother, Indian food.”
The 360 of JD Vance
Years later, JD Vance seems to have turned a corner in how he publicly frames their cultural differences. His recent remark about hoping Usha “will one day become a Christian” contrasted sharply with his earlier efforts to understand Hinduism.
Yet, his affection for her remains emphatic. “Look, I love my wife so much. I love her because she's who she is,” he told Megyn Kelly in July. “Obviously, she's not a white person, and we've been attacked by some white supremacists over that. But I just, I love Usha.”
He reiterated that sentiment on ABC News’ “This Week” with Jonathan Karl in 2024: “Look, my attitude to these people attacking my wife is, she's beautiful, she's smart. What kind of man marries Usha? A very smart man and a very lucky man, importantly. Don’t attack my wife. She's out of your league.”
However, if one is to look at the current polarized US pollical context, Vance's sharp turn from his own statements seems pretty convenient. How Usha feels about this is anyone's guess, given she has made her stance clear on how she has no plans of converting.
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