JD Vance reveals how Charlie Kirk’s death influenced wife Usha's decision to have a fourth child

WASHINGTON, DC: Vice President JD Vance has revealed that the death of Charlie Kirk played a role in his family's decision to welcome a fourth child. In an excerpt from his forthcoming memoir, 'Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith', the 41-year-old said his wife, Usha Vance, reconsidered having another baby after a conversation with Erika Kirk following her husband's death.  

The vice president said the experience ultimately changed Usha’s long-held position against having another child. The vice president wrote that the experience had a lasting impact on their family during a period of grief and reflection.

Conversation with Erika Kirk left lasting impact on Usha Vance

In the excerpt, Vance recounts the days following Kirk’s death in September 2025. Kirk, a political activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot at age 31 while on a Utah college campus.

According to Vance, his wife spent time consoling Kirk’s widow, Erika, shortly after the shooting. During that conversation, Erika expressed regret that she and her husband had only two children together.

“As my wife held Charlie Kirk's widow on the first day of her terrible sorrow, Erika told Usha between sobs that she regretted having only two kids with Charlie,” Vance writes.

The vice president said he had spent years encouraging Usha to consider having another child, but she consistently declined. “For years, I'd asked Usha to have another baby, and for years, she told me she was done, especially now that public service had elevated us into the national spotlight,” he recounts.

Vance then describes a change that followed the family’s experience surrounding Kirk’s death. “But something changed for Usha, and not long after we buried my friend, she became pregnant with our fourth child, a boy.”

The Vances are already parents to Ewan, 9, Vivek, 6, and Mirabel, 4. Their fourth child is expected later this month.

JD Vance reflects on friendship with Charlie Kirk 

Elsewhere in the memoir, Vance describes Kirk as one of his closest friends and political confidants. He remembers that during the 2024 presidential campaign, he frequently sought Kirk’s advice about raising children while living in the public eye.

Vance recalls concerns about how constant attention and security measures affected his family, particularly his eldest son. “Sometimes I feel like I ruined his life without even asking him,” Vance writes of his concerns.

According to the memoir, Kirk encouraged him to view those challenges as sacrifices connected to a larger purpose. “Don't try to convince your son it's not a sacrifice. It is. Just try to take some solace in the fact that it's a worthy sacrifice. I'll say a prayer for you,” Kirk told him.

Vance also recounts learning about Kirk’s shooting through messages from staff members and describes the uncertainty that followed before Kirk’s death was confirmed. “Of course, I hoped above all that he would survive for his wife and kids,” Vance writes. “We prayed that God would save him. But God saw it differently.”