What JD Vance's Wife Usha Is Really Like, According To Their Former Classmates

Despite her husband's election success, we still know surprisingly little about JD Vance's wife, Usha Vance. A former corporate lawyer working in San Francisco, Mrs. Vance quit her position mere minutes after it was announced JD Vance would be Donald Trump's running mate and has all but disappeared from public life ever since. Unlike her Democratic counterpart, Tim Walz's wife Gwen Walz, who sojourned all across the Midwest campaigning for the Harris-Walz ticket, Mrs. Vance was almost completely absent from the Trump-Vance campaign beyond a handful of media appearances and a speech at the Republican National Convention.

Owing to her lack of public presence, it has fallen upon the people who've known her over the years to introduce her to the world — and what they've had to say has not been particularly flattering. One especially damning recollection has come from a former friend and Yale Law School classmate of Usha's, who told The Cut that despite being a model student, Usha's inner self is totally inscrutable. "She didn't seem to have strong emotions. It didn't seem like things got to her that much, and she was never very vulnerable," the former friend said. "I kind of wonder if she's a sociopath." 

This characterization of Usha as a cold, calculating person seemingly comports with her willingness to go along with her husband's essential role in Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.

Following JD Vance's decision to join the Republican ticket, many have attempted to portray Usha Vance as an unwilling participant. After all, the Trump campaign frequently engages in anti-immigrant rhetoric, and Usha is herself the daughter of Indian immigrants. Moreover, she previously supported Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, and even expressed concern over the former-president's role in instigating the January 6 Capitol riots, according to The Washington Post. 

However, friends of the Vances have indicated there was no reluctance to join Team Trump. Speaking with The Cut, one friend rejected the idea that Usha is opposed to her husband's candidacy, saying: "When people say leave Usha out of it — well, she's in." Another friend echoed those sentiments to the Daily Beast: "She is close with her family. If she didn't want to be doing this, her out is very easy. It's hard for me to imagine her being trapped."

Usha's political pivot seems a little less sudden when considering her previous work for conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whom she clerked for while he was serving as a circuit judge between 2014 and 2015. The fact she willingly worked for a conservative judge who helped secure Florida for George W. Bush in 2000, all while supporting Democrats at the ballot box, demonstrates more than anything that Usha isn't necessarily bound by a set of political beliefs.