3. He’s Married to Usha Chilukuri Vance
Mr. Vance is married to Usha Chilukuri Vance, whom he met at Yale Law School. They married in 2014.
Ms. Vance currently works as a corporate litigator. She has clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice John. Roberts and then-appellate Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
She would be the first Hindu spouse of a vice president and the first person of color to be second lady.
4. The Couple Has 3 Children
Mr. Vance has three children: Ewan, 6, Vivek, 4, and Mirabel, 2.
5. He’s Considered a Populist Conservative
Mr. Vance is commonly considered to be a populist conservative.
His political ideology is often placed alongside the ranks of former President Trump, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and pro-Trump swaths of the House Freedom Caucus.
In a December 2023 interview, he described his hope to “push the Republican Party in a more pro-worker direction” and capitalize on the working-class gains made by the likes of former President Trump.
6. He Grew Up in a Lower-Class Family
Mr. Vance famously grew up in a lower-class family in Middletown, Ohio, and often experienced financial and familial hardships growing up.
7. He’s a Best-Selling Author
“Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance. (Harper)
Mr. Vance first became well-known for his best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” published in 2016, which details his time growing up in poverty-stricken areas of the Rust Belt.
The book traces the drug abuse issues and financial hardships experienced by many in the white working class, and was seen by many as a primer on the population that propelled former President Trump to victory in 2016.
8. There’s a Movie Adaptation of His Book
Mr. Vance’s book was adapted into a namesake Netflix film in 2020.
9. He Experienced the Decline of the Rust Belt
In both his memoir and the movie adaptation, Mr. Vance explains his experience of the decline of the Rust Belt, and the impacts it had on those living there.
Speaking about his native Middletown, Mr. Vance wrote in Hillbilly Elegy, “There is a lack of agency here— a feeling that you have little control over your life and a willingness to blame everyone but yourself.”
He’s made clear that this experience has continued to shape his political life and decisions.
10. He Grew Up in Ohio but Considered Rural Kentucky ‘Home’
Despite growing up in Ohio, Mr. Vance has said he considered his great-grandmother’s house in rural Kentucky as “home.”
“I always distinguished ‘my address’ from ‘my home,’” Mr. Vance wrote in Hillbilly Elegy.
“My address was where I spent most of my time with my mother and sister, wherever that might be. But my home never changed: my great-grandmother’s house, in the holler, in Jackson, Kentucky.”