Usha Vance: The Transformation Of JD Vance's Wife

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These days Usha Vance is perhaps best known for being the wife of JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president in the 2024 United States presidential election. "It's safe to say that neither JD nor I expected to find ourselves in this position," Usha said while introducing her husband at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. "But it's hard to imagine a more powerful example of the American dream. A boy from Middletown, Ohio, raised by his grandmother through tough times, chosen to help lead our country through some of its greatest challenges." No doubt, a wild juxtaposition from the tragic story of JD and his sister Lindsay's childhood. 

But make no mistake — Usha has undergone quite the metamorphosis herself. As the child of Indian immigrants, growing up in a middle-class neighborhood, registering as a Democrat, and even being described as leaning to the left politically during her time at Yale, Usha's transformation has definitely got heads turning. 

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Donald J. Trump supposedly used to give Usha Vance the ick. Now her husband is running to be his right hand man. The story goes that in July, an unidentified former friend of Usha's came forward and told The Washington Post that Usha considered the January 6 attack on the Capitol to be "deeply disturbing" and that she was "generally appalled by Trump." Fast forward to 2024 and suddenly Usha's purported disdain for Trump has completely disappeared. "Initially, I thought, 'Surely she can't be okay with this, and she's going to divorce [JD] in time,” a former pal recalled to The Cut. "Then I saw her at the Republican National Convention and thought, 'Could she actually be onboard?'" 

Still, Jai Chabria, a family friend of the Vances who also served as a strategist for JD during his Senate campaign, chalked Usha's about-face up to simply a "shift in views," much like the one her former "never Trumper" husband has undergone. He went on to tell the Post that Usha "fully supports Donald Trump and her husband and will do whatever she can to ensure their victory this November." Duly noted.

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Usha Vance for Hillary Clinton?! All Trump ick aside, it's rumored that Usha Vance was, in fact, smitten with Hillary Clinton — especially during the 2016 United States presidential election. An unnamed friend of the Vances even told the Daily Beast that JD had told them that Usha intended to cast her vote for Clinton that year. 

Alas, it does not appear that Clinton is as enthusiastic about returning the favor for Usha's husband in the 2024 election. Following Vance's "childless cat ladies" remark (enter: the shady side of JD Vance), Clinton lamented during a CNN interview that JD's views regarding childcare are "just not in touch with what goes on in the lives and the working careers of the vast majority of Americans." She added, "It's almost impossible to understand his worldview. Where is he coming from? Where does he get these ideas?" 

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Courtroom to "Romper Room!" While some millennial women are opting to be what JD Vance so eloquently referred to as "childless cat ladies," his professional attorney wife Usha Vance dove head first into motherhood. Yep, that's right. When she's not firing back at rampant rumors that JD wears eyeliner, she's busy being a mom.

In 2017, merely three years after they tied the knot, the Vances welcomed their first child, a son named Ewan. Usha later famously discussed JD's "overriding ambition to become a husband and a father and to build the kind of tight-knit family that he had longed for as a child," during her speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention. Fast forward to 2024, and the couple share three children all under the age of eight years old. 

Alas, JD caught some major flack when he haphazardly signaled that it was Usha who was ultimately tasked with rearing said children. While discussing his conversion to Catholicism with The New York Times in October, he lamented that Usha didn't necessarily "sign up for a weekly churchgoer" when she married him. "She's got three kids," he noted. "Obviously I help with the kids, but because I'm kind of the one going to church, she feels more responsibility to keep the kids quiet in the church," he carefully added. We'll file this one under: So many weird things about JD And Usha Vance's marriage.

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Speaking of the Vance children, it appears that Usha Vance has also somewhat relaxed her strict diet of healthy vegetarian and Indian food — at least as far as the children are concerned. In July, the PatriotTakes account on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted a clip of the family at a diner. As evidenced by the footage, the children slurped down chocolate milk while Vance ordered 12 cinnamon rolls to go. At one point, he eyed the breakfast pastries and pleasantly remarked, "Oh, those are big cinnamon rolls!"

The unlikely husband-wife duo grew up worlds apart in terms of diet — a topic that JD has never shied away from discussing. "We rarely cook, even though it's cheaper and better for the body and soul," he wrote in his memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," noting that his early diet mostly consisted of trips through the drive-thru and heaping portions of Hamburger Helper. (Never forget: "One pan, one pound, one happy family.") Those closest to the couple are also well aware of their diet discrepancies. "JD's upbringing definitely exposed him to some of the worst food in the world, the most preservative-heavy food in the world," a friend of the couple, Rob McDonald, told the The New York Times in July. "Usha certainly does not lean that way in her diet."

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Shortly after Donald Trump announced that he had picked JD Vance as his running mate in the 2024 United States presidential election, Usha Vance had news of her own: she was stepping down from her longtime career as a corporate litigator. "In light of today's news, I have resigned from my position at Munger, Tolles & Olson to focus on caring for our family," she revealed to SFGATE in a statement. "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."

Prior to that, Usha admitted during an interview with "Fox & Friends" in June that she wasn't exactly "raring to change anything about" their lives. But she quickly and carefully followed up by saying, "But I really believe in JD and I really love him and so we'll just sort of see what happens with our life. We're open."

While the news probably shocked many, maybe even her employers at Munger, Tolles & Olson, who told SFGATE on July 15, "Usha has informed us she has decided to leave the firm," others might have seen the resignation coming. In the past, JD has been very open about his mother-in-law's choice to put her own career as a biology professor on pause to focus on helping them care for their first child. "She lived with us for a year," he gushed on an episode of "The Portal."