JD Vance says his mother asked ‘which tribe?’ after learning about Usha’s Indian heritage

US vice president JD Vance has shared a personal story about his family’s first reaction to learning that his future wife, Usha Vance, was of Indian origin.Speaking on British entrepreneur Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast, Vance recalled that his mother asked a surprising question after learning about Usha’s Indian heritage: “Which tribe?”Vance said that it was just a mere cultural misunderstanding rather than ill intent.Usha Vance, born Usha Bala Chilukuri, is the daughter of Indian immigrants who moved to US from the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Her family has deep roots in the Telugu-speaking community and includes several academics and educators. She was born and raised in California and later graduated from Yale University and Yale Law School.It was at Yale Law School that she met JD Vance. The two married in 2014 in an interfaith ceremony that included both Christian and Hindu traditions. Today, they have three children and are among the biggest political couples in the US.Over the years, Vance has frequently spoken about the positive influence Usha and her family had on him. In his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, he described being struck by the warmth of her Indian family life, which he said was a lot different from the upbringing he experienced in Ohio and Kentucky. He wrote that Usha’s family showed him a different model of family relationships and support.Usha has built an accomplished career of her own. Before becoming second lady, she worked as a lawyer and clerked for several senior judges, including chief justice John Roberts and then-federal judge Brett Kavanaugh. She later worked at the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson before stepping away from private practice as her husband’s political profile grew. Usha became the first Indian-American second lady of US and the first Hindu spouse of a US vice president.However, many MAGA nationalists and White supermacists argue that a Brown, Hindu and Indian second lady hinders the chances of Vance becoming the next president of US in 2028.