Usha Vance, wife of the Republican Vice President nominee J.D. Vance, is emerging as the new face of the rising clout of the India Americans, a minority community that has for decades been counted among the best educated and the wealthiest in the US.
Her rising profile has also exposed her to attacks from the far right.
“It was the latest milestone for an Indian American community that has emerged as a powerful powerhouse over the past decade,” The New York Times noted in an article on Usha Vance on Saturday.
Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris had created the most remarkable milestone by becoming the first from the community to occupy the second-highest political position in the country.
Two Indian Americans ran for the Republican nomination in the 2024 election cycle — Nikki Haley, the former US Ambassador to the UN (also the first Indian-American to hold a federal Cabinet position), and Vivek Ramaswamy, a biopharma entrepreneur.
Also, there are five Indian-descent members in the House of Representatives — Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal, Raja Krishnamoorthi, and Shri Thanedar — all Democrats who call themselves the ‘Samosa Caucus’.
Their numbers could grow in 2024 with several more Indian Americans in the fray. There is also a possibility of Ramaswamy being nominated to the Senate seat that will be vacated by J.D. Vance if he becomes the Vice President.
There are an estimated 4 million Indian Americans, although not all of them are American citizens because Indian citizens living here are also put under the umbrella of Indian-descent Americans.
They have long been seen as an elite community with median education and income levels being the highest in the US. The community has remained largely free of involvement in crime. They have surely advanced from writing cheques to politicians to seeking political office themselves, from county administrations to the White House.
Usha Vance, born to immigrant parents from India, is now the new face of this elite community, manifesting the very best of it.
She went to Yale, an Ivy League school, and then Cambridge in the United Kingdom, clerked for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, and worked at a law firm till the announcement of her husband joining the Trump ticket as running mate.
The Indian-American community has been abuzz as well.
“The wife of Trump’s new VP nominee Usha Chilukuri Vance is a lawyer of Indian heritage, a Hindu family. With @VivekGRamaswamy & @TulsiGabbard both playing prominent roles, it would appear Hindus are key players in the Silicon Valley & US politics. India-India!,” Ravi Karkara, an Indian-descent New York-based investor and entrepreneur, posted on X.
Tulsi Gabbard is a former member of the House of Representatives who ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2020 against President Joe Bien.
However, there has also been some hateful blowback from the far-right.
“I’m sure this guy is going to be great on immigration,” far-right activist Jaden McNeil wrote on X shortly after Vance was named by Trump as his pick, with an undated picture of the Vances and their newborn child.
Nick Fuentes, a far-right political commentator, wondered in a video post if Vance — “the guy who has an Indian wife” — can be trusted to “support white identity”.
Fuentes went on to reiterate claims that there is a plan to replace white Americans through immigration and inter-marrying.