J. D. Vance accepted the Republican party nomination for vice-president with a well-received speech that among other things noted the "incredible people" immigrants from South Asia, including his wife Usha Vance's family from India.
"I am, of course, married to the daughter of South Asian immigrants to this country, incredible people..., people who genuinely have enriched this country in so many ways," he said on Wednesday night as he addressed the complex issue of immigration which is at the top of the re-election agenda of former President Donald Trump who has been a strong and vocal opponent of undocumented migrants.
Vance speech was repeatedly interrupted by loud cheering and clapping as he explained Trump's populist agenda in everyday terms, connecting ideas to real-life experiences, juxtaposing important junctures in his life to economic policies backed by President Joe Biden in his long career in politics spanning more than 50 years as a Democratic Senator and then eight years as President Barack Obama's vice president.
Vance is married to Usha Chilukuri, the daughter of Telugu immigrants from India. They met at the Yale Law School and married upon graduation. They have three children.
Usha Vance introduced her husband for his acceptance speech on the third night of the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with a lead-in from Dn Trump Jr, the former president's eldest son who was Vance's strongest advocate in Trump's inner circle.
"My background is very different from JD's," Usha Vance said, referring to her husband by his initials as does everyone else. "I grew up in San Diego, a middle-class community with two loving parents, both immigrants from India and a wonderful sister."
"Vance had a troubled upbringing. His grandmother raised him as his mother - a single parent - struggled with addiction in Middletown, Ohio. He joined the Marine Corps after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack and returned to attend college on a special scholarship for US Army personnel. He studied law at Yale and set up a venture capital business. He entered politics in recent years and was elected to public office for the first time in 2022, to represent Ohio in the US Senate," she said.
"That JD and I could meet at all, let alone fall in love and marry is a testament to this great country," Usha Vance said.
"It is also a testament to JD and tells you 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."
She added, "Although he's a meat and potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and learned to cook food for my mother Indian food. Before I knew it, he had become an integral part of my family."
(With inputs from IANS)
