Who Is J.D. Vance's Wife? All About Usha Chilukuri Vance

As Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate in the 2024 election, J.D. Vance had the support of his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance.

The couple first met at Yale Law School in the 2010s, during which they organized a discussion group on the subject of “social decline in white America,” per The New York Times. 

The two quickly bonded, with J.D. referring to his then-classmate as his “Yale spirit guide.” Usha and J.D. tied the knot in 2014, a year after they graduated from law school.

Since then, they have welcomed three children together. Though the two are fairly private about their family life, J.D. and his wife have stepped out together for a number of political events.

Most recently, Usha supported J.D. throughout the 2024 presidential race, joining him on the campaign trail and advising him during his vice presidential debate prep. After Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris to win the election, Usha accompanied her husband on stage as he and the president-elect thanked their supporters.

Here’s everything to know about J.D. Vance’s wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance.

They met in law school 

The couple reportedly met in 2013 when they were both students at Yale Law School. According to The New York Times, they worked together to organize a discussion group on the subject of “social decline in white America.”

The publication notes that reading material for the group included scholarly papers such as “Urban Appalachian Children: An ‘Invisible’ Minority in City Schools,” and posits that the syllabus “become something like the theoretical spine” for J.D.'s hit 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which documented his life growing up white working class in the postindustrial Rust Belt.

While studying at Yale, Usha was also the executive development editor of the Yale Law Journal and managing editor of the Yale Journal of Law & Technology, per her bio on Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. She participated in the Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic, the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic and the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project during her time at Yale.

Prior to Yale Law School, Usha received her BA in history from Yale University and her MPhil in early modern history from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar, per her LinkedIn. 

They got married in 2014

In 2014, the year after J.D. and Usha graduated from Yale Law School, the couple wed.

They have three kids 

Together, J.D. and Usha have three children: two sons, Ewan and Vivek, and a daughter named Mirabel, per The Hill. J.D. announced the birth of their third child on Instagram on Dec. 21, 2021. 

“We were blessed with an early Christmas present this year,” he captioned a photo of him and Usha holding their newborn. “Everyone please meet Mirabel Rose Vance, our first girl. Mama and baby both doing great, and we’re feeling very grateful this Christmas season.” 

J.D. tends to keep his children out of the spotlight, though he has made references to his children over the years. Notably, J.D. read Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Places You'll Go! on the Senate floor in honor of his son Vivek’s 4th birthday in February 2024.

“I’m sorry that they could I can’t be with you for your birthday dinner,” he said at the time. “But I want you to know that Daddy loves you very much. And I’m going to read this into the record because maybe you can watch it at home.” 

She grew up in San Diego

Usha was born in California; per The New York Times, she is “the child of Indian immigrants,” and grew up in the suburbs of San Diego. According to her LinkedIn, she attended Mt. Carmel High School, a public high school located in Rancho Peñasquitos.

She worked as a litigator

Usha worked as a litigator in the San Francisco and Washington, D.C., offices of Munger, Tolles & Olson, per the company’s website on her now-defunct profile page. She worked with the company from 2015 to 2017 before going on to serve as a law clerk for the Supreme Court until 2018. During that time, she clerked for Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Judge Amul Thapar. 

She later returned to Munger, Tolles & Olson in January 2019 and her practice focused "on complex civil litigation and appeals in a wide variety of sectors, including higher education, local government, entertainment, and technology, including semiconductors,” per the company website.  

Shortly after J.D.'s nomination was announced, Usha's profile was removed from the firm's website. The firm said in a statement to PEOPLE, "Usha has been an excellent lawyer and colleague, and we thank her for her years of work and wish her the best in her future career.”

In her own statement, provided to SFGATE, Usha said, “In light of today’s news, I have resigned from my position at Munger, Tolles & Olson to focus on caring for our family. I am forever grateful for the opportunities I’ve had at Munger and for the excellent colleagues and friends I’ve worked with over the years.” 

J.D. credits her for guiding him in his early career 

J.D. frequently praises Usha for her support in his career. Speaking with The New York Times in November 2022, he referred to his wife as his “Yale spirit guide” while they were classmates.

“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 added.  

“I’m one of those guys who really benefits from having sort of a powerful female voice over his left shoulder saying, ‘Don’t do that, do that,’” he told Megyn Kelly in a 2020 interview on her podcast, The Megyn Kelly Show.

She was by his side at the Republican National Convention

Shortly after he was announced as Trump's vice president pick, J.D. and his wife Usha made a public appearance at the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wis. The two were seen holding hands as they made their way to the center of the rally. At one point, J.D. was seen taking in the applause while his wife smiled at him.

She gave her first solo interview in August 2024

Amid the 2024 presidential race, Usha sat down with Fox News in August 2024 for her first solo interview. She spoke about adjusting to life in the public eye and addressed a few of J.D.'s more controversial comments, including his 2021 remark about the U.S. being run by "childless cat ladies."

"The reality is, JD made a quote — I mean, he made a quip, and he made a quip in service of making a point that he wanted to make that was substantive,” she said. "What he was really saying is that it can be really hard to be a parent in this country, and sometimes our policies are designed in a way that make it even harder."