Usha Chilukuri Vance, the wife of JD Vance, at the Republican National Convention said that neither JD Vance nor she expected to find themselves in this position on Thursday. “But it’s hard to imagine a more powerful example of the American Dream,” she added, introducing her husband after Donald Trump named him his running mate for the US presidential polls.

Future Second Lady Usha Vance: “Neither J.D. nor I expected to find ourselves in this position — but it’s hard to imagine a more powerful example of the American Dream.”

FULL REMARKS: pic.twitter.com/JJgdJbem0H

— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) July 18, 2024

Usha, born to immigrant parents from Andhra Pradesh, shared their story from the stage of the RNC. Recounting their first meeting and the journey that led them to this moment, she said “There was only one thing to do, to explain, from the heart, why I love and admire JD, why I stand here beside him today, and why he will make a great Vice President of the United States.”

She shared how they met at the law school, where JD was a “working-class student” who had “overcome childhood traumas” and served in Iraq as a Marine. “A tough Marine who had served in Iraq but whose idea of a good time was playing with puppies,” she said.

Usha shed light on the Ohio senator’s curious and enthusiastic approach to their differences when they first met, including his adaptation to her vegetarian diet and learning to cook Indian food from her mother. “Although he is a meat and potato kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and learnt to cook Indian food from my mother,” she said.

JD and Usha Vance met at Yale Law School and married in 2014. The couple has three children together – Ewan, 6, Vivek, 4, and Mirabel, 2.

JD Vance also delivered a powerful speech at the RNC, talking about his roots in small-town Ohio and the economic challenges communities across the Rust Belt faced. He spoke about the struggles of small towns in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and other states, where jobs have been sent overseas and children have been sent to war.

He vowed to be a champion for these forgotten communities, promising to never forget his humble beginnings. “I promise you this: I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from,” JD said.

“To the people of Middletown, Ohio, and all the forgotten communities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and every corner of our nation, I will fight for you, I will stand with you, and I will never forget the struggles we face.”

File picture of Dr. Sampat S. Shivangi
| Photo Credit: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Eminent Indian-American physician Dr. Sampat Shivangi has been elected as an official delegate to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this month that would formally nominate former U.S. president Donald Trump as the party’s presidential candidate.

Mr. Trump, 78, is the presumptive Republican Party candidate for the presidential election.

An influential Indian-American community leader, Dr. Shivangi, has been elected as a National Delegate at the convention for the sixth time.

“It is a great pleasure and honour to share the news that I have been nominated and elected as (an) official delegate at the upcoming Republican National Convention to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from July 13 to July 19, 2024,” Dr. Shivangi said.

The four-day Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, would formally nominate Mr. Trump as the party’s candidate for the November 5 presidential election.

The nomination process would be completed by Republican delegates from across the country.

Dr. Shivangi, a lifelong member of the Republican Party and a founding member of the Republican Indian Council and the Republican Indian National Council, has been nominated as RNC delegate six consecutive times.

“This will be my sixth time serving as a National Delegate at the Republican National Convention to nominate the Republican Party nominee to contest the national presidential election,” he said.

“My nomination began as early as when President George W. Bush was nominated in New York, then-Senator George McCain, Governor Mitt Romney, (and) President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. Now again to re-elect President Donald Trump in 2024 in Milwaukee,” he said.

He is the national president of the Indian American Forum for Political Education, one of the oldest Indian American Associations.

Over the past three decades, he has lobbied for several bills in the U.S. Congress on behalf of India through his enormous contacts with U.S. Senators and Congressmen.

“I feel this is a unique honour and an opportunity for an Indian American to represent the community at the national level,” he said.

Dr. Shivangi said he would be part of the luncheon hosted by Governor Tate Reeves of Mississippi in honour of the delegates at Northern Lights in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 16, for the Mississippi delegates.