Following Kamala Harris’s loss in her historic bid to become America’s first female president, social media has turned its focus to her Indian roots, drawing a comparison to those of Usha Vance, wife of newly elected Vice President JD Vance. The two women, each with Indian heritage Harris tracing to Tamil Nadu and Usha Vance to Andhra Pradesh have sparked an online debate, playfully referred to as a Telugu versus Tamil preference.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, some users have voiced support for Harris, celebrating her Tamil roots, while others have praised Usha Vance, who has Andhra Pradesh ties. “So, Telugu bidda Usha Vance wins against Tamil Kamala Harris,” one user commented, referencing JD Vance’s vice-presidential win as a symbolic Telugu victory. Another joked about the rivalry, likening the US election to “hostel elections at IIT Madras.”
Ohio’s JD Vance, now the youngest Vice President in American history, shares his life with wife Usha Vance, born Usha Chilukuri, and their three children. Usha, raised in the suburbs of San Diego by Indian immigrant parents, has an impressive academic and legal background. She worked as a litigator at a prominent law firm in San Francisco and served as a law clerk to Justice Brett Kavanaugh before he joined the Supreme Court. A Yale and Cambridge graduate, Usha’s friends describe her as both highly ambitious and intellectually inclined.
The couple met at Yale Law School and married in 2014, blending traditions with a blessing ceremony led by a Hindu priest. Usha reportedly played a critical role in JD Vance’s political ascent, helping him shape the concepts explored in his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy”, which delves into the challenges faced by rural America a book that would later be adapted into a film by director Ron Howard.
