JD Vance defends wife Usha against 'disgraceful' attacks over Indian heritage: She’s 'way out of their league'

Vance said he gets 'pissed off' when White supremacists attack his family

Sen. JD Vance fiercely defended his wife, Usha, when asked about attacks against her Indian heritage in an interview that aired Sunday.

Vance sat down with CBS' "Face the Nation" as part of a weekend media blitz that included interviews across multiple networks. At one point during the wide-ranging discussion, host Margaret Brennan brought up Vance's "very accomplished wife," Usha, pointing to comments the senator recently made about White supremacists attacking her because "she's not a White person." 

WHO IS JD'S WIFE USHA VANCE?

Sen. JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance stand on stage on the last day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 18, 2024. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Vance is married Usha Vance, an accomplished attorney and daughter of Indian immigrants, with whom he shares three biracial children.

"How concerned are you that this kind of hate would follow you the White House?" Brennan asked.

"It's going to follow us wherever we go because that's the nature of public life in America and it's disgraceful," Vance said. "I love my wife. I'm very proud of her. I'm extremely lucky to have met her and to have gotten the chance to build a life with her. And my attitude on this is, people want to attack me, attack my policy views, they're welcome to. I signed up for it. My wife didn't sign up for it. 

"And by the way, she's way out of their league...," he added, "so I wish they would just keep their mouth shut, or at least focus on me."

COMEDIAN ZARNA GARG PRAISES USHA VANCE AS JD'S ‘SECRET SUPERPOWER:’ ‘YOU CAN’T DENY THIS ABOUT HER'

Usha Chilukuri Vance, wife of vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, July 17, 2024. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

Brennan pressed Vance on how he maintains his composure when his family is attacked personally in the public arena.

"Yeah, I get pissed off sometimes, certainly," he admitted. "When people attack your family… for something that no person can control." 

Still, Vance maintained that his wife is "pretty tough" and knows what their family signed up for when former President Trump announced him as his 2024 running mate last month.

Usha Vance recently told "Fox & Friends" that she's developed "thick skin" while discussing how she deals with negative press coverage of her and her now-high-profile husband.

"That can be hard. And, you know, sometimes I don't see it all, and sometimes I do see it and I look at and think, well, this is not the JD I know, this is not accurate. And other times it might span discussions or thoughts about what we should do next or how we should live. But I think we've been doing this now for a little while, and I've gotten kind of accustomed to it and grown a bit of a thick skin to it. And so I just try to not let it affect the way that I live," she said.

JD Vance's wife, Usha Vance, sat down with "Fox & Friends" for an exclusive interview. (Fox News)

USHA VANCE REVEALS HOW SHE DEALS WITH NEGATIVE PRESS COVERAGE OF HER HUSBAND

She added that she has found it helpful to avoid reading the news.

"One really good piece of advice that someone gave me is just not to read the news that much, and it's not burying your head in the sand or anything like that. It's just JD is out there. He's talking about all sorts of things. He's thinking all sorts of things and I just think he deserves to have someone in his life who hears it straight from him and doesn't just hear what other people are saying about him all the time. And so I think that really helps," she said. 

Usha Vance, née Chilukuri, born in 1986, was raised in San Diego, California, and attended Yale Law School, where she met the future Ohio senator.

Before law school, Usha Vance received a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale and a master's in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge.

She completed multiple clerkships after her graduation from Yale, according to an Axios report, including for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

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The pair married in 2014 and have three children together: sons, Ewan, 6, and Vivek, 4, and a daughter, Mirabel, 2.

Fox News' Hannah Panreck and Michael Lee contributed to this report.

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