Meet Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants and lawyer wife of JD Vance, Trump's pick for vice president

Yale Law graduate and trial lawyer Usha Chilukuri Vance was thrust into the spotlight this week after her husband, JD Vance, was chosen as Donald Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election.

Chilukuri Vance, 38, was raised in San Diego by Indian immigrants. Her mother is a biologist and dean of the University of California, San Diego; her father is an engineer, according to J.D. Vance’s campaign.

She received her undergraduate degree from Yale University and her Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Cambridge on a Gates Cambridge Scholarship.

After Cambridge, she reunited with her husband at Yale, where they both studied law. In her 2016 memoir, Hillbilly ElegyJD Vance said the two met through a class assignment, where he quickly “fell in love” with his writing partner.

“In a place that always felt a little foreign to me, Usha’s presence made me feel at home,” he writes.

Republican US vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance and his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance arrive on the floor during the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday. Photo: AP — Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance and his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance arrive on the floor during the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday. Photo: AP

They graduated in 2013 and married the following year.

After law school, Chilukuri Vance spent a year as a law clerk to Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was a judge on the Washington Court of Appeals, followed by a year as a law clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts.

She has since become a trial lawyer for the firm Munger, Tolles & Olson in its San Francisco and Washington offices. Chilukuri Vance left the firm where she worked shortly after her husband was chosen as Trump’s running mate.

“Usha has informed us that she has decided to leave the firm,” Munger, Tolles & Olson said in a statement.

“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.”

Chilukuri Vance was not available for comment Tuesday, according to a spokeswoman for the J.D. Vance campaign.

J.D. Vance and his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance appear on stage during a primary election night event in Cincinnati, Ohio, in May 2022. Photo: Bloomberg — JD Vance and his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance appear on stage at a primary election night event in Cincinnati, Ohio, in May 2022. Photo: Bloomberg

In his memoir, Vance attributes part of his success and happiness to his wife.

“Even at my best, I am a delayed explosion—I can be defused, but only with skill and precision,” Vance wrote. “It’s not just that I’ve learned to control myself, but that Usha has learned to manage me.”

Voter records show that in 2022, Chilukuri Vance was a registered Republican in Ohio and voted in the Republican primary that year — the same election in which her husband was running in the Republican Senate primary.

JD and Usha Vance live in Cincinnati and have three children: Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel. Outside of work, she served on the Cincinnati Symphony Board of Directors from September 2020 to July 2023.