Buzz grows in India over Indian-origin wife of J.D. Vance

Just who is Mrs Usha Chilukuri Vance, wondered many Indians as yet another Indian connection surfaced in the ongoing US presidential election campaign.

- Nirmala Ganapathy

The 38-year-old lawyer was thrown into the media spotlight not just in the US but also in India after her husband, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, was chosen as the Republican vice-presidential candidate.

Wearing a khaki-coloured dress, Mrs Vance, who is of Indian origin, stood proudly by her husband’s side at the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin, in the US, where he was confirmed as the nominee on July 15.

Former US president Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that he chose Mr Vance as his running mate after “lengthy deliberation and thought”.

In India, interest was focused more on Mrs Vance as another instance of the Indian-American immigrant success story, which has continued to captivate Indians.

Her impressive education and professional credentials were amply highlighted in Indian media reports.

Mrs Vance graduated from Yale Law School, where she met her husband. Their romance, according to a 2022 New York Times profile of the couple, was encouraged by Yale law professor Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mother, which gave rise to the tiger mum phenomenon.