WASHINGTON – All eyes will be on President-elect Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance on Inauguration Day, but standing beside them will be someone making history in her own way: Usha Vance.
Usha Vance, 39, will be the first Indian American and Hindu to serve as second lady.
As a lawyer who is the daughter of Indian immigrants, Usha Vance will also be one of the youngest second ladies to assume the position. She is the youngest second lady since 38-year-old Jane Hadley Barkley, the wife of former President Harry Truman’s Vice President Alben Barkley, according to ABC News.
Usha Vance’s rise as second lady comes as Indian Americans have become more politically active during recent election cycles and have stood as candidates on the national stage, including several who ran for president in 2024.
“My background is very different from JD’s,” she said at the Republican National Convention in July. “I grew up in San Diego, in a middle-class community with two loving parents, both immigrants from India, and a wonderful sister. That JD and I could meet at all, let alone fall in love and marry, is a testament to this great country.”
Indian American voters across the country who spoke with USA TODAY shared a wide range of views on Vance. Some were excited about her service as the incoming second lady, while others argued she wasn’t the representation they were looking for.
USA TODAY reached out to JD Vance’s spokesperson for comment, but she did not respond for this article.
How some Indian Americans view Usha Vance as second lady
Usha Vance’s views have evolved, from reportedly being a registered Democrat, according to The Washington Post and The New York Times, to supporting her husband’s vice presidential campaign on the Republican ticket.
Usha Vance grew up in California and met JD Vance when the two attended Yale Law School. They married in 2014. During her Republican National Convention speech in July 2024, she noted that JD Vance learned to cook Indian food for her mother.
During the 2024 campaign, she defended JD Vance for his remarks deriding women without children as “childless cat ladies” and stood by his side as he engaged in anti-immigration rhetoric. He’s previously promoted false claims that Haitian immigrants are eating cats and dogs.
“I don’t feel like she’s the representation that I want as an Indian American woman, a mom and a working woman and that kind of thing. I just, I have a really hard time with… the rhetoric, the divisiveness, the vitriol that is the Trump-Vance campaign, and what they’ve promised,” said attorney Sujata Raman, 47, who lives in Novi, Michigan. “It’s just so counter to what I thought this country as a whole was all about, and especially the Indian American community.”
Raman voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
Thrisha Mohan, 23, who works in programs and operations at a nonprofit in D.C., said she doesn’t think Usha Vance’s place in the administration will change JD Vance and Trump’s messaging or political ideology.
“Aligning ourselves with them is only going to hurt our community more,” Mohan, who also voted for Harris, said.
In an interview with Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt last year, Usha Vance acknowledged that while she and her husband don’t always agree on political issues, she never doubts his intentions.
“He treats me with seriousness and respect. That becomes a part of the way that he thinks about things,” she said.
And Indian Americans are eagerly looking to see how she will influence her husband in a second Trump term.
However, some argue that her position will likely leave the door open for more Indian Americans to be recognized and accepted under Trump’s second term.
Arun Agarwal, 54, who lives in Dallas, Texas, who supported former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the Republican primaries, said that he appreciates how Usha Vance discussed her strong Hindu faith and how she and JD Vance, who is Catholic, approach faith on the campaign trail.
“Will this get some Indian Americans some automatic positions in the administration in terms of policy groups and all? Absolutely not. Will the White House be more inclined and more open to Indian American ideas, and the way, I think, the relationship with India? Absolutely that will happen,” said Agarwal, CEO of the textile company Nextt. He voted for Trump in the general election.
Though the Indian American community has largely voted for Democrats in recent election cycles, the group has seen a slight shift toward Trump, according to a survey from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace conducted last year.
The survey, conducted among 714 adult citizens, found that 60% of Indian Americans intended to vote for Harris in the 2024 election while 31% intended to vote for Trump. In comparison, a survey conducted by the group in 2020 among 936 adult citizens, found that 68% of Indian Americans planned to vote for President Joe Biden, while 22% planned to vote for Trump.
Usha Vance, wife of Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance (R-Ohio), listens while he speaks on Sept. 5, 2024, in Phoenix.
‘I have respect for her’
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill also reflected on Usha Vance’s role as second lady.
Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., said it “doesn’t sound like” she will moderate JD Vance’s views, and hopes that she leans into her personal connection to immigration in her role as second lady.
“Certainly on the Democratic side, I think we lean into that story about immigrants, the American dream of hard work, of family…I have not heard Usha Vance talking about it, but I’d be honest, I’m not sure she’s done a ton of public speaking, either,” he said.
“It’s good to see the progression of Indian Americans in politics. Indian Americans have contributed greatly in all walks of life,” Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., who immigrated from India to the U.S. in 1979 said. He added that he’s proud of her achievement.
Thanedar is one of the six Indian Americans all of whom are Democrats, currently in Congress. The others include Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Pramila Japayal, D-Wash., Raja Krishanmoorthi, D-Ill., Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., and Bera.
He launched a bipartisan Congressional Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain American Caucus in 2023 aimed at standing up to religious discrimination. He said that he hopes Usha Vance can address the violence against the Hindu community in her new role.
Khanna said that he believes Usha Vance is “an incredibly talented, substantive person.”
“I’ve known her for years,” said Khanna, a surrogate for Harris in the 2024 race, said. “I think she’s a great role model for Indian Americans, and she’s an incredibly accomplished lawyer. She’s a great mother, and I admire that she’s in public service, and so I have respect for her.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Usha Vance: Indian American voters split on her historic rise
