Vance Highlights Family, Urges GOP Victories Ahead of Midterm Elections
Washington — Vice President J.D. Vance highlighted his family while making the case for Republican victories in the November midterm elections during a party convention in Dallas.
Vance said his wife, Usha Vance, declined an invitation to introduce him because she was at home caring for their six-week-old son and their three other young children.
“In July, my beautiful Usha gave birth to a baby boy, little Alec, just six weeks ago,” Vance said.
He said organizers approached Usha when their son was only two weeks old.
“She said, ‘Hell no! I got four kids to take care of,’” Vance said. “But she sends her love, and I know she’s watching at home.”
Vance used the story to introduce a broader argument about what he described as the birthright of American children. His speech at the Republican midterm convention focused heavily on family and American identity.
“I’ve thought a lot, ladies and gentlemen, about what is the birthright of this newest of Americans, my little boy,” he said. “He is now our fellow citizen, though he doesn’t know it.”
Vance also spoke about his four-year-old daughter, Mira, wanting to feed her younger brother and about his older children watching the newborn smile.
“It’s inside of that family where I’ve seen Usha show an almost divine patience with those four kids,” he said.
The vice president also criticized Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, over earlier remarks involving Usha and Vance’s late grandfather, whom he called “Papaw.”
Vance said El-Sayed had questioned whether he would take Usha back in time to meet his grandfather. Vance interpreted the remark as suggesting that his white grandfather would not have accepted or loved Usha.
“Abdul looks at him, sees the colour of his skin, sees his background, and decides that he could never have loved my wife,” Vance said.
Vance also noted that El-Sayed had been raised in part by white step-grandparents.
“They say that people with names like James Vance are incapable of loving people with names like Usha, and they couldn’t be more wrong,” he said.
Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants, became the first Indian American and first Hindu second lady of the United States when her husband took office as vice president.
The couple met while studying at Yale Law School and have four children. Usha Vance, a lawyer, has appeared with her husband at major political events while generally maintaining a lower public profile. (Source: IANS)
