 "Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, waves as his wife Usha Vance looks on at an election night watch party, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. AP")
Republican Donald Trump is looking forward to his historic comeback as the US President.
He claimed victory early Wednesday to a roaring crowd of supporters gathered at the Palm Beach County Convention Centre, even as several media outlets were yet to call the race.
He heaped praise on his running mate JD Vance and his Indian-American wife Usha Chilukuri Vance, by saying, “I want to be the first one to congratulate – now I can say Vice President-Elect JD Vance. And his remarkable and beautiful wife, Usha Vance.”
Soon after, JD told supporters, “We just witnessed the greatest political comeback in the history of the United States of America. Under President Trump’s leadership, we’re never going to stop fighting for you, for your dreams, and for the future of your children. And after the greatest political comeback in American history, we’re going to lead the greatest economic comeback in American history."
Before becoming the party’s vice presidential nominee, 40-year-old Vance was already popular among Americans because he was elected a new Republican senator from Ohio and his memoir detailed the problems of the White working class. Usha Vance, his wife, has supported him through it all.
Usha is now all set to become the first Indian-origin Second Lady of the US.
Here’s what we know about her.
Catch all the updates of US Election Results 2024 here
About Usha Vance
Usha Chilukuri Vance, who traces her roots to Andhra Pradesh, brings a wealth of credentials and a deep connection to Indian values and culture in the American political system.
Born in 1986 to Indian immigrant parents, Usha was raised in an upper-middle-class suburb of San Diego.
A litigator at a national firm, she has an impressive academic background.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from Yale University and a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Cambridge, according to the New York Times.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsShe spent a year clerking for future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he served as an appeals court judge in Washington, followed by a year as a law clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts, The Associated Press reported.
She had been a trial lawyer for the Munger, Tolles and Olson law firm. Her law firm announced Monday that she had left the firm.
As per the biography, she handled “complex civil litigation and appeals” in sectors that included “higher education, local government, entertainment, and technology, including semiconductors.”
After four years of intense extracurricular activity at Yale, she continued her studies as a Gates fellow at Cambridge, where she engaged with left-wing and liberal groups. She was a registered Democrat in 2014.
According to the New York Times, Usha and JD Vance first met at Yale Law School and were married in Kentucky in 2014, with a Hindu priest presiding over a separate ceremony. The couple has three children together.
Her role in JD’s success
Usha Vance has contributed significantly to her husband’s achievements.
She assisted Vance in organising his thoughts on the social decline in rural white America, which inspired his best-selling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which was adapted into a film directed by Ron Howard in 2020, as per ANI.
In the memoir, JD described her as his “Yale spirit guide,” helping him navigate life at the elite university where they met. “She instinctively understood the questions I didn’t even know to ask, and she always encouraged me to seek opportunities that I didn’t know existed,” he wrote, as per CNN.
In the past, she has made some rare appearances with Vance as he sought the Ohio Senate seat.
Speaking to ANI, a US-based global real estate investment advisor and a well-known entrepreneur, AI Mason said, “Usha Vance is a highly accomplished attorney and daughter of Indian immigrants, and her husband brings youth and diversity to the Trump ticket.”
“She knows the Indian culture and all about India. She can be a big help to her husband in navigating great ties between USA and India,” the entrepreneur, who is also a friend of the Trump family, said.
Meanwhile, in an interview earlier with Fox and Friends, Usha and her Senator husband talked about the two having different faiths and what their views were on the speculations of him becoming a pick for the Vice President of the US.
“I don’t think people understand how hard he works and how creative he is. Everything he says and does is built on a foundation of so much thought. He’s always trying to do better,” Usha had said.
On being asked about the reason behind her support for JD Vance running for the second highest office in America, Usha told Fox, “There are a few different reasons… One is that 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 very good people. And so I think I’ve seen that… the power of that in my own life, and I knew that JD was searching for something. This just felt right for him.”
Interestingly, Usha Vance was a registered Democrat in 2014.
The interview was taken three weeks before the announcement of JD Vance as the running mate of Trump in the ongoing US presidential polls.
“I’m not raring to change anything about our lives right now, but I believe in JD, and I really love him, and so we’ll just sort of see what happens with our life," she said in an interview about her husband.
Special prayers were offered for the success of the US Vice Presidential candidate in Andhra Pradesh’s Godavari district since Usha originally belonged to Vadluru village in the Nidadavolu assembly constituency.
About JD Vance
Vance was born James David Bowman in Middletown, Ohio, to a mother who struggled with addiction and a father who left the family when JD was a toddler, according to ANI. He was raised by his grandparents.
According to The Associated Press, he joined the Marines, served in Iraq, and later earned degrees from Ohio State University and Yale Law School.
He also worked as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.
Vance made a name for himself with his 2016 bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which was published as Trump was first running for President.
The book earned Vance a reputation as someone who could help explain the maverick New York businessman’s appeal in middle America, especially among the working-class, rural white voters who helped Trump win the presidency, according to AP.
Hillbilly Elegy also introduced Vance to the Trump family.
Donald Trump Jr. loved the book and knew of Vance when he went to launch his political career. The two hit it off and have remained friends.
After Donald Trump won the 2016 election, Vance returned to his native Ohio and set up an anti-opioid charity. He also took to the lecture circuit and was a favoured guest at Republican Lincoln Day dinners, where his personal story — including the hardship Vance endured because of his mother’s drug addiction — resonated.
Vance’s appearances were opportunities to sell his ideas for fixing the country and helped lay the groundwork for entering politics in 2021 when he sought the Senate seat vacated by Republican Rob Portman, who retired.
Trump endorsed Vance, who went on to win a crowded Republican primary and the general election.
Trump creates history
Donald Trump is all set to become the next US president, capping a remarkable comeback four years after he was voted out of the White House and ushering in a new American leadership likely to test democratic institutions at home and relations abroad.
The 78-year-old recaptured the White House on Wednesday by securing more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency, Edison Research projected, following a campaign of dark rhetoric that deepened the polarisation in the country.
The former president’s victory in the swing state of Wisconsin pushed him over the threshold.
Republicans won a US Senate majority, but neither party appeared to have an edge in the fight for control of the House of Representatives, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.
Meanwhile, Harris did not speak to supporters who had gathered at her alma mater, Howard University. Her campaign co-chair, Cedric Richmond, briefly addressed the crowd after midnight, saying Harris would speak publicly later on Wednesday.
“We still have votes to count,” he said.
With inputs from agencies