Usha Vance discusses her upbringing and achieving the American Dream
Wife of vice presidential nominee JD Vance spoke to Ainsley Earhardt about how her upbringing shaped who she is today and family life with JD and their children.
Second lady Usha Vance described in a rare interview how a "switch flipped" in her and her husband J.D. Vance’s lives after he was chosen as President Donald Trump’s running mate, saying the MAGA movement had totally embraced her.
In her first interview since her husband was elected to the vice presidency, Usha Vance detailed how nearly every aspect of her life was flipped on its head after she went from being the "mostly unknown wife of a United States senator from a flyover state" to the nation's second lady.
"The day before J.D. was selected—I did not know he was going to be selected—I was working as a lawyer, and I had the wardrobe of a person with three children who likes to do things outdoors, who has a dog, who doesn’t like things to be too precious," she told The Free Press. "And then, a switch flipped, and it’s not like it came with a whole new wardrobe and stylist and everything."
Usha Vance first gained the fascination of the public at the Republican National Convention in July, where she sported a cobalt-blue Badgley Mischka dress, wearing little to no jewelry or makeup.
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Usha Vance introduced her husband at the Republican National Convention in July 2024, one of the first times the public had ever heard from her. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)
As noted by the fashion venue WWD, Usha Vance did not consult with the fashion designers behind the $495 dress she wore to the convention, and "must have purchased the frock on her own at retail," according to a spokesperson for Badgley Mischka.
When asked by The Free Press "what it was like to be an Indian-American woman in MAGA Land—with all the blondes and Botox and facelifts, the low-cut blouses and nine-inch heels," she laughed.
"I'm laughing because it would be really hard for me to be blonde," Vance joked, adding, "that color would look totally absurd."
Then-Sen. Vance became an effective surrogate for the Trump 2024 campaign en route to victory in November. Usha Vance, who preferred to let her hair age naturally, provided some insight into how she was received by the MAGA movement.
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Usha and J.D. Vance have three children together; Mirabel, Vivek and Ewan. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
"For what it’s worth, my reception into this world—and I’m not from a particularly wealthy background, not from a very fashion-oriented background personally or professionally—has been really positive," she said. "People don’t seem to care all that much what I look like."
The highly accomplished Vance is a lawyer who has clerked for Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the latter before he joined the highest court.
In the interview, she also delved into how her family life has been affected by the negative attention her husband receives at times.
While on a visit to The Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C., on March 13, Usha and the vice president were expecting to have a pleasant night out together. Instead, they were faced with hecklers who disrupted the start of the concert they came to see.
"I don’t think we anticipated that anyone would really notice," she told The Free Press.
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Vice President-elect JD Vance, left, takes oath as his wife Usha Vance watches during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)
Concertgoers recorded the incident and shared it on social media, where it quickly caught the attention of national outlets.
Usha was reportedly "perplexed" by the situation, and said it was "a really good example of reporting in search of a narrative that tends to occur."
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"We just go to concerts, right?" she added.
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