Who is Usha Chilukuri? Ohio's GOP Senate primary winner JD Vance's wife once clerked for Brett Kavanaugh
Trump-endorsed candidate JD Vance has won Ohio's GOP Senate Primary nomination. Former president Donald Trump reportedly monitored the elections with his aides and friends at Mar-a-Lago. Trump congratulated Vance soon after his victory.
It is believed that Trump's endorsement of Vance led to a rough doubling of his support. In his victory speech, Vance showered praises on Trump and thanked him for his support. Vance even appreciated some of his top rivals in the GOP following a lot of negative publicity leading up to the race. He was also seen calling for unity.
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Vance defeated six others, including former state treasurer Josh Mandel and Indian American businessman Neil Patel. He is now set to face Democrat US Rep Tim Ryan in November to replace retiring Sen Rob Portman. Vance is known for his memoir 'Hillbilly Elegy', a movie version of which was released on Netflix in 2020. According to Goodreads, Vance tells “the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck."
Vance is married to practicing attorney Usha Chilukuri Vance. The pair has been married since 2014, and has three children -- a girl and two boys.
Who is Usha Chilukuri?
Usha works as an associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, as per her LinkedIn profile. She has also worked as a Law Clerk at the Supreme Court of the United States, and at the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She was previously a Summer Associate at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP.
Vance and his Indian-origin wife met while they were both law students at Yale University. The duo have been married since 2014 and stay with their three children in Cincinnati. Their first son, Ewan Blaine, was born in 2017. Chilukuri and Vance welcomed their third child in December 2021. Vance shared on social media, “We were blessed with an early Christmas present this year. Everyone, please meet Mirabel Rose Vance, our first girl. Mama and baby both doing great, and we’re feeling very grateful this Christmas season.”
Chilukuri is from San Diego, CA where she attended Mt. Carmel High School. She received her BA degree in history from Yale University in 2007 and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge in 2009, where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. Chilukuri taught American history as a Yale-China Teaching Fellow at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, before entering law school.
Among other designations, she has served on the board of the Gates Cambridge Alumni Association and as secretary of the board of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She has clerked for Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court 2017 to 2018, and also for Judge Brett Kavanaugh in 2014-2015. Chilukuri has been a panelist at US Supreme Court Update, Minnesota Chapter of the Federal Bar Association’s 46th Annual Federal Practice Seminar, 2021.