Wednesday evening was the third night of the Republican National Convention and traditionally reserved for the vice presidential candidate’s speech. After an introductory video for JD Vance, whom former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump nominated as his running mate, Usha Chilukuri Vance took the stage to introduce him. Chilukuri Vance initially seemed nervous and a little off-balance, which was refreshing.
It shows that the Vances are not a sophisticated political family, but ordinary people. After waiting for the applause to die down, Usha Chilukuri Vance began her remarks.
When I was asked to introduce you all to my husband, JD Vance, I was at a loss. What can I say that hasn’t already been said, given that the man has already been the subject of a Ron Howard film.
JD has shared many of his life stories in his own articulate words. In his book Hillbilly Elegy, during his Senate campaign, and today as a sitting U.S. Senator.
It occurred to me that there was only one thing to do: to explain from the bottom of my heart why I love and admire JD and why I stand here with him today, and why he will be a great Vice President of the United States.
Vance and Chilukuri met at Yale Law School and married in 2014. There’s a well-known saying that applies to dating and finding the right person: “Everyone has baggage. Find someone who loves you enough to help you unpack it.”
Because of his messy childhood, JD Vance had carried a lot of baggage that would hinder his success. It was Usha Chilukuri who loved him so much that she partnered with him and helped him unpack the Samsonites from his past.
Chilukuri Vance continued:
I met JD in law school when he was fresh out of Ohio State. He was attending school on the GI Bill. We were friends at first because, I mean, who wouldn’t want to be friends with JD? He was, then and now, the most compelling person I knew. A blue-collar worker who overcame childhood traumas I could barely comprehend and ended up at Yale Law School. A tough Marine who had served in Iraq but whose idea of ​​a good time was playing with puppies and watching Babe.
He was the most determined person I knew, with one overarching goal: to become a husband and father and to build the kind of close-knit family he’d wanted as a child. My background is very different from JD’s. I grew up in San Diego in a middle-class community with two loving parents, both of whom immigrated from India, and a wonderful sister. That JD and I were even able to meet each other, let alone fall in love and get married, is a testament to this great country.
It’s also a testimony to JD and says something about who he is. When JD met me, he approached our differences with curiosity and enthusiasm. He wanted to know everything about me; where I came from, what my life had been like.
The Vances now have three children, and Vance went into business to create jobs, then into politics to address the problems he saw. He went to the Senate and is now Donald Trump’s running mate for vice president.
Chilukuri Vance saw in this friend from law school, who became an integral part of their family, the seed of his future career.
Before I knew it, he had become an integral part of my family, a person I couldn’t imagine life without. The JD I knew then is the same JD you see today – minus the beard. And his goals in this recent role are the same ones he had for our family. To protect people, create opportunities, build better lives and solve problems with an open mind.
If all goes well in November, JD Vance and Usha Chilukuri Vance could unpack at the Vice President’s home in Washington, DC in 2025.
It’s protected to say that neither JD nor I expected to find ourselves in this position. It’s challenging to imagine a more powerful example of the American dream. A boy from Middletown, Ohio, raised by his grandmother through challenging times and chosen to lead our country through some of its greatest challenges.
I am grateful to all of you for the trust you have placed in him and our family.
