Euphoria in Andhra village as Usha Vance set to be US’ 2nd lady

Following the victory of Donald Trump and his vice presidential candidate JD Vance in the 2024 US presidential elections, there is euphoria at Vadluru in Andhra Pradesh, which is the ancestral village of Usha Chilukuri Vance.

With the Trump-Vance victory on Wednesday, Usha, 38, is set to become America’s Second Lady. An Indian-American lawyer, Usha Chilukuri Vance burst into the national spotlight in July after her husband JD Vance was named by Donald Trump as his running mate.

“We just celebrated Usha’s husband’s victory. We burst crackers and preceded this celebration with prayers for JD Vance’s victory yesterday at the local Sai Baba temple,” P Srinivasa Raju (53), a former village president

Daughter of Indian immigrants, Usha grew up in a San Diego suburb. A bright student and a bookworm, Usha showed leadership qualities, her friends told media.

A Gates Scholar, her career spans Cambridge and Yale, and then clerking for various members of the Supreme Court. Her last job was that of a civil litigation attorney at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP.

Usha and Vance met at Yale Law School while studying and later married in 2014 in Kentucky. The ceremony was blessed by a Hindu priest at a different event, according to a New York Times profile. The Vances have three children.

After Vance was chosen as Trump’s running mate, Usha's Hindu roots soon became talk of the town. Vance has said on several occasions that his wife is not a Christian, but was “very supportive” of deepening his faith.