Washington, Oct 16 (IANS) US Vice President JD Vance invoked his Indian American wife Usha Vance during a sharp attack on Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at a Republican campaign rally in Michigan, accusing him of making racially charged remarks about their interracial marriage and questioning his commitment to American identity.
Addressing supporters in Monroe, Michigan, Vance claimed that El-Sayed had made statements suggesting that white Americans were incapable of forming genuine relationships with people of other races.
The Vice President brought his own family into the argument, referring to his grandfather, who helped raise him during a difficult childhood in Ohio.
“He said, my papa, one of the greatest men that I have ever known the man who raised me when my own mom and dad struggled was incapable and he said this, go and look it up, that my papa was incapable of loving my darling wife and our amazing second Lady for the simple fact that he was white and she is not,” Vance said.
The allegation was made during a highly partisan speech supporting Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, who is contesting the November 3 election against El-Sayed.
The Vice President also drew attention to El-Sayed’s family background, suggesting that his political rhetoric was inconsistent with his own upbringing.
“Abdul said this despite being raised in part by his own white step grandfathers and I can only imagine if he says that in public what he says about you when the cameras aren’t on,” Vance said.
His remarks formed part of a broader attack on the Democratic candidate’s political identity, patriotism and positions on race and American history.
Vance accused El-Sayed of portraying the United States as fundamentally racist. The Vice President contrasted those alleged views with his grandfather’s decades of work in Ohio’s steel industry.
He repeatedly invoked the contributions of American factory workers, arguing that their efforts had helped create the country’s industrial prosperity and middle class.
Vance also challenged El-Sayed’s account of his background, alleging that the Michigan-born candidate had previously described himself as an immigrant from North Africa and claimed Egyptian citizenship.
The Vice President framed the election as a contest between competing understandings of American identity.
The remarks were among the most personal attacks in a speech otherwise focused heavily on immigration, public safety, foreign conflicts and the November midterm elections.
Parents of Usha Vance immigrated to the United States from India. She became the country’s first Indian-American second lady when JD Vance assumed office as Vice President in January 2025.
A lawyer by training, she has frequently accompanied her husband at major public events.
JD Vance has spoken publicly about his difficult childhood in Ohio and the central role played by his grandparents in raising him.
His family background gained national attention through his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which described his upbringing in a working-class community and his relationship with his grandmother and grandfather.
–IANS
lkj/rs
