Usha Vance says her husband J.D. is ‘most determined person’ she knows

MILWAUKEE — Usha Vance took the stage Wednesday night for the first time since her husband, Sen. J.D. Vance, became the vice presidential nominee.

She spoke of her life with the Ohio senator and gave a sneak peek into what he’s like at home. She described him as the “most interesting person” she knows.

“The most determined person I knew, with one overriding ambition — to become a husband and a father and to build the kind of tight-knit family that he longed for as a child,” she said.

Ms. Vance described him as a “meat and potatoes kind of guy,” who was eager to learn about her culture and learn how to cook Indian food for her mother.

“It’s safe to say that neither J.D. nor I expected to find ourselves in this position, but it’s hard to imagine a more powerful example of the American dream,” she said.  “A boy from Middletown, Ohio.”

Mrs. Vance, 38, is the daughter of Indian immigrants who migrated to San Diego from Andhra Pradesh. Her mother, Lakshmi Chilukuri, is a biologist and provost at the University of California at San Diego, and her father, Krish Chilukuri, is an engineer.

She received her undergraduate degree in history from Yale University. She later attended the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, where she received her Master of Philosophy in early modern history.

She met Mr. Vance while the two were studying at Yale University for their law degrees. They graduated in 2013 and wed a year later. The couple has three children, Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel.

She clerked for well-known judges, including Justice Brett Kavanaugh while he was an appeals court judge in Washington, and Chief Justice John Roberts.

She has worked as a trial lawyer for the Munger, Tolles & Olsen law firm for several years, but left the firm after Mr. Vance was announced as Mr. Trump’s running mate Monday.

“Usha has informed us 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.”

She played an important role in Mr. Vance’s 2016  memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of Family and Culture in Crisis,” which recounted the hardships he faced growing up in a downtrodden Ohio town.

“Even at my best, I’m 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 how to manage me.”

The Vance family lives in Cincinnati.