Second Lady Usha Vance delivers graceful response after El-Sayed's 'race-baiting' remarks in apparent jab at the VP, his family

Second Lady Usha Vance responded with notable poise and grace after Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed launched a personal “race-baiting” jab targeting her Indian heritage.

Race-baiting is the intentional use of inflammatory language or actions regarding race or ethnicity to provoke anger, fear, or division, usually for political or social advantage.

The exchange began after Vice President JD Vance criticized El-Sayed’s past remarks on Sharia law.

In response, the Senate hopeful targeted Vance’s working-class grandfather — whom the VP affectionately called “Papaw” — implying that he would have found his grandson’s marriage entirely unacceptable due to Usha’s complexion and Indian heritage.

 

“So, do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…?” El-Sayed asked sarcastically on Saturday, taking an apparent swipe at the second lady’s Indian heritage. Critics also quickly pointed out the underlying insinuation: that Vance’s family would have been too prejudiced to accept her.

Usha, however, shrugged off the distasteful insult, instead offering a gracious reply during an interview with Fox News that aired on Wednesday.

 

“I have to admit I kind of laughed,” she remarked. “Yes, I never met JD’s mamaw and papaw. I do know and love the children that they raised [though], his mom, his aunt and uncle. And they have never been anything but incredibly loving. His aunt is like a second mother to me. I have to think that, if they raised children like that, they would’ve been loving as well and I would have really, really, really loved to have met them.”

The second lady also noted that while she had never visited Ohio prior to dating Vance, the experience far exceeded her expectations once she arrived.

“It’s a culturally diverse place,” she said. “The people have been so welcoming. Everyone has been so loving. They are my family. They treat me like their family.”

Campaigning in Ohio earlier this week, the vice president pointed to recent comments from El-Sayed — who bizarrely linked criticism of Sharia law to White supremacy — as proof that Democrats have abandoned American-born working-class voters.

Vance often speaks of his grandfather, James Vance — whom he affectionately called “Papaw” — as a deeply influential figure who provided essential stability throughout his life. A welder for 40 years, James supported Democrats because he viewed them as the “party of union men,” according to the VP.

“I’d love to go back in time and tell my Pawpaw that there is a man who claims to stand for working people who says not only should we have Sharia law, but if you criticize it, you’re a White supremacist. That’s not my grandpa’s Democrat Party,” Vance said.

Following El-Sayed’s crude comments on the Vance’s, other GOP lawmakers were quick to defend the vice president as well.

“Why does Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed just assume that all white Midwestern grandparents are racist?” questioned Representative Brandon Gill (R-Texas).

Vance met the future second lady at Yale Law School in 2010. The pair also just welcomed their fourth child, Alec Neel Vance, who was born on July 19^th. Usha was born in San Diego, California.