Usha Vance turns the tables after Abdul El-Sayed takes a personal shot at her

WASHINGTON, DC: Usha Vance has responded to a remark from Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed about her husband, Vice President JD Vance, and his late grandfather.

Asked about El-Sayed’s comment questioning whether JD would take her “back in time to meet Papaw”, Usha said she laughed when she heard it and instead spoke about the relationship she has developed with JD’s family in Ohio.

Clips of the interview were posted by Fox News on Tuesday, August 25.

Usha fires back at Abdul El-Sayed

During an appearance on Fox News’ 'Fox & Friends', Usha was asked about El-Sayed’s remark and said she initially found it amusing.

“I have to admit I kind of laughed,” she said.

Usha confirmed that she never had the opportunity to meet JD’s grandparents, James “Papaw” Vance and Bonnie “Mamaw” Vance.

“Yes, I never met JD’s mamaw and papaw,” she said.

Instead, Usha focused on the relatives she has come to know, saying she shares a close bond with the family members JD’s grandparents raised.

“I do know and love the children that they raised: his mom, his aunt and uncle,” Usha said.

She described JD’s aunt as “like a second mother to me,” adding that the warmth she has received from his family influenced how she imagined his grandparents would have treated her.

“They have never been anything but incredibly loving,” she said. “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.”

Usha recalls joining the Ohio family

Usha also reflected on her first experiences with Ohio and meeting JD Vance’s extended family.

She said she had never visited the state before she started dating JD and admitted she had gone into it with certain assumptions.

“My expectations were blown up,” she said.

Usha said she came to see Ohio as “a culturally diverse place” and found the people she encountered there extremely welcoming.

“Everyone has been so loving,” she said. “They are my family. They treat me like their family.”

El-Sayed's bizarre remark stuns

El-Sayed made the comment Saturday after JD Vance criticized his views on Sharia law.

Referring to Vance’s grandfather, El-Sayed said, “So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…”

The remark followed Vance’s public discussion of his grandfather and the deep ties he had to the Ohio community where he spent decades working.

Vance recently honored James Vance at a steel mill in Middletown, Ohio, where his grandfather worked for almost 40 years.

While speaking there, the vice president recalled Papaw’s work as a welder and reflected on the important role his grandparents played in raising him.

Those remarks about his grandfather later became the basis for El-Sayed’s comment involving Usha.

Usha and JD Vance married in 2014 and have four children.

Raised in California by Indian immigrant parents, Usha has often discussed joining the Vance family and adjusting to life in Ohio.