New Delhi: America is all set for the first time, to have a second lady of Indian origin. Usha Chilukuri, the wife of Vice-President-elect JD Vance, is an American lawyer. Her roots trace back to Andhra Pradesh. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she grew up in a San Diego suburb. Her parents hail from Chilakaluripeta, Andhra Pradesh.
In addition to a bachelor’s degree in History from Yale University, she also has a master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge.
She met JD Vance at Yale Law School and married him in 2014. Their wedding ceremony included Hindu rituals. They worked together to organise a discussion group on the subject of “social decline in white America,” the New York Times reported. The couple has three children. She has supported her husband strongly throughout his political career and often appeared alongside him during his campaigns. She is a skilled litigator who worked at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in San Francisco and Washington DC from 2015 to 2017, before serving as a law clerk for the US Supreme Court in 2018. She returned to Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in January 2019, according to people.com.
Usha has been instrumental in her husband’s political journey, often accompanying him to political events and providing guidance and support. Vance has described her as his “partner in every sense of the word”.
The President-elect Donald Trump, thanked the Vice President-elect and the soon-to-be second lady in a speech he gave after several American media houses projected his win.
While thanking Republican nominee Donald Trump’s decisive win over Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 race for the White House, JD Vance shared an X post thanking the President-elect, he also left a sweet note for his wife, Usha Chilukuri. Complimenting his wife, he thanked her for her support. “To my beautiful wife for making it possible to do this,” Vance posted.
The Vice President-elect started his post with a “Thank you.” Addressing Donald Trump, he wrote, “To President Donald J. Trump, for giving me such an opportunity to serve our country at this level.” He also thanked the American people for “their trust,” adding, “I will never stop fighting for ALL of you.”
During the election, while devotees in a temple in Tamil Nadu’s Thulasendrapuram village prayed for Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris, nearly a thousand kilometres to the north, in Andhra Pradesh’s Vadluru village, special prayers were offered for JD Vance because his wife Usha has roots in this Andhra village.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday praised US Vice President elect-JD Vance’s victory in the presidential election as a historic moment as it will catapult a woman of Telugu heritage, Usha Chilukuri Vance, as the Second Lady of the United States.
“I would also like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to JD Vance, on becoming the US Vice President-elect. His victory marks a historic moment, as Usha Vance, who has roots in Andhra Pradesh, will become the first woman of Telugu heritage to serve as the second lady of the US,” said Mr Naidu in a post on X.
Calling this a moment of pride for the Telugu community around the world, Naidu said he looks forward to the opportunity to invite them (JD Vance and Usha) to visit Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, there was a steady stream of media persons and visitors at Chilukuri Santhamma’s home at Akkayyapalem in Vishakhapatnam on Wednesday evening. The city is home to Usha Chilukuri’s paternal grandaunt Chilukuri Santhamma, 96, a professor of physics. “I am happy that someone from our family has become the Second Lady of the U.S. I watched the election results on TV. Usha’s grandfather Rama Subramanya Sastry and my husband are brothers,” a jubilant Santhamma told media persons, who made a beeline to her home on Wednesday evening, The Hindu reported.
Referring to Usha Chilukuri’s father, Santhamma had told The Hindu in the past., “Radhakrishna had left for the U.S. long ago and had settled there, and Usha was born there. She should not forget her roots and her Indian origin.”