Indians toast Usha Vance after Kamala Harris concedes US election to Trump

Indian heritage of the vice-president-elect’s wife sparks hopes for stronger India-US relationship

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J.D. Vance gets a kiss from his wife Usha at a campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 4. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 1:26pm, 7 Nov 2024

With Vice-President Kamala Harris’s defeat in the US elections, Indian media are turning their attention to another woman of South Asian descent who’s gaining prominence in American politics.

Usha Chilukuri Vance is the wife of J.D. Vance, running mate of Donald Trump, who won a second term in Tuesday’s US presidential election. She is the daughter of Indian immigrants from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, where local media said villagers had been praying for her husband’s victory this week.

“We offered special prayers for Usha Vance’s success,” one of the villagers told Asian News International. “The victory of Usha’s husband will advance the bilateral relationship between India and US.” On Wednesday, residents set off firecrackers in the village to celebrate the election results, ANI reported.

A Yale Law graduate, Vance was thrust into the spotlight earlier this year after her husband became Trump’s vice-presidential pick. At the time, some social media users had put her in the same category as several prominent American chief executive officers with Indian roots, like Microsoft Corp.’s Satya Nadella. Vice-President Harris was also the child of an Indian immigrant.

Vance comes from a family known for its academic achievements. Her 96-year-old grand-aunt in Andhra Pradesh has been celebrated in Indian media as the country’s oldest working professor.

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The incoming second lady, 38, spoke about her Indian heritage at the Republican National Convention in July, highlighting her “very different” background to her husband’s.