US Senator JD Vance, tapped by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as his running mate, credited his wife and her Hindu faith for helping him navigate personal and professional challenges and come to terms with his own Catholic faith.
Vance made the revelation in an interview to Fox News, which aired weeks before he was selected as Trump’s Vice President candidate. He was accompanied by his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance during the interaction.
Vance, 38, was raised as a Protestant but began considering converting to Catholicism around 2016. He said his wife Usha, a Hindu, encouraged him in search of his Christian faith.
“I was never baptised. I was raised Christian but never baptised. I was first baptised in 2018. Usha was actually raised non-Christian. But I remember when I started to re-engage with my own faith, Usha was very supportive,” said Vance.
Usha, who grew up in a “religious household”, said one of the reasons why she supported her husband in his journey of self-discovery through religion was because of her parents’ influence.
“My parents are Hindu and that’s one of the things that made them such good parents and really good people. And I have seen the power of that in my own life,” said Usha.
“And I knew that JD was searching for something. This just felt right for him," she added.
Asked about how they raise their children, coming from two distinct faiths, Usha said there are things that the couple “just agrees on” when it comes to family matters.
“The answer is, we just talk a lot,” she said.
The pair, who met at Yale Law School, married in 2014 and have three children together: sons, Ewan, 6, and Vivek, 4, and a daughter, Mirabel, 2. Incidentally, the two are friends with Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who challenged Trump for the Republican presidential ticket.
Donald Trump named Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate, elevating a staunch ally and young GOP star who, less than a decade ago, rose to prominence as a Trump critic.
But over the last few years, he has emerged as a Trump loyalist, becoming one of his most vocal defenders in the Senate and has frequently called on the party to embrace Trump’s populist agenda.
As her husband was announced as Trump's running mate and vice presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention, Usha Chilukuri Vance stood right by his side, beaming with pride.
