In the quiet village of Vadluru, nestled in India's Andhra Pradesh state, residents gathered to watch the 2024 US presidential election results. This village, the ancestral home of Usha Vance's parents, is the birthplace of the wife of US Senator and Republican vice presidential candidate J D Vance. As Donald Trump claimed victory in the election, the villagers celebrated the prospect of having one of their own as the next 'Second Lady', hoping her success would bring benefits to their community.

Usha Vance, a high-achieving academic and successful lawyer, is the daughter of Indian immigrants and the wife of Trump's running mate, J D Vance. Although Usha was born and raised in suburban San Diego, the villagers in Vadluru, more than 13,450 km from the White House, prayed that their historic connection would lead to improvements in their village. 'We feel happy,' said Srinivasa Raju, a 53-year-old resident. 'We support Trump.' The villagers had offered prayers for a Trump win, and Hindu priest Appaji expressed hope that Usha Vance would reciprocate their support.

Usha Vance's great-grandfather left Vadluru, and her father, Chilukuri Radhakrishnan, a PhD holder, was raised in Chennai before moving to the United States. 'Every Indian — not just myself, every Indian — we feel proud of Usha, because she is of Indian origin,' said 70-year-old Venkata Ramanayy. 'We hope she will develop our village.' Although Usha has never visited Vadluru, her father checked on the village's temple about three years ago.

While millions of Indians have made similar journeys to the United States, the most recent US census shows Indians have become the country's second-largest Asian ethnicity, growing 50 percent to 4.8 million in the decade to 2020. Usha, a practicing Hindu who studied at Yale and Cambridge Universities, married J.D. Vance in Kentucky in 2014 and they have three children. However, in Thulasendrapuram, 730 kilometers southwest, the story was different, as residents there celebrated the achievements of Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate.

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