Additional Coverage:
At the Republican National Convention, Usha Vance was initially unsure how to introduce her husband, JD Vance, the Vice Presidential nominee. She decided to share insights from their early days together, before his political career and the fame from his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
During her speech, she reminisced about their time at Yale Law School, where they met while JD Vance attended on the GI Bill after serving in the Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007. Usha Vance, who pursued her undergraduate and law degrees at Yale and earned a master’s in philosophy from Cambridge, also shared anecdotes from their early friendship.
She portrayed JD Vance as a resilient and ambitious individual, shaped by a challenging upbringing, who was friendly, engaging, and always striving to understand her background, despite their different upbringings. Usha, originally from San Diego, highlighted their diverse backgrounds and how JD adapted to her vegetarian lifestyle, learning to cook Indian cuisine from her mother.
The couple’s journey was depicted as a manifestation of the American Dream, illustrating their unexpected path to the political stage, underscored by their shared values and aspirations for safety, opportunity, and problem-solving in America.