Republican US vice-presidential nominee and Senator J.D. Vance applauded the contributions of South Asian immigrants on Wednesday, highlighting the role they have played in enriching their adopted country. He particularly praised his Indian-origin wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance.
His comments come after he officially accepted the Republican Party's nomination on Monday to run for vice-president in the November 5 presidential poll.
“I am married to the daughter of South Asian immigrants to this country, incredible people, people who genuinely have enriched the country in so many ways,” Vance, 39, said in his acceptance speech on the third day of the 4-day Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
“And of course, I'm biased, because I love my wife, but I believe that it's true. When I proposed to my wife, we were in law school, and I said, Honey, I come with USD 120,000 worth of law school debt and a cemetery plot on a mountainside in eastern Kentucky,” he said according to PTI.
He said he was joined at the event by his “beautiful wife”, whom he called an “incredible lawyer and better mom”.
Usha, a graduate of Yale Law School, is a civil litigation attorney at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. She has clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and for Justice Brett Kavanaugh, while he was a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
The couple got married in 2014 in Kentucky. They have three children: sons Ewan and Vivek, and a daughter named Mirabel.
Ohio Senator Vance is said to have transformed from Donald Trump’s critic to his staunchest defender. Earlier this week, Trump took to his Truth Social platform and announced, "As Vice-President, J.D. will continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our troops, and will do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN."