US Second Lady Usha Vance responded gracefully to Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed after he suggested her husband JD Vance's late grandparents might not have accepted her because of her Indian heritage. The exchange began when JD Vance invoked his late grandfather, James "Papaw" Vance, while criticising El-Sayed's past comments on Sharia law during a rally in Ohio, prompting El-Sayed to imply on social media that the Vance family may have been hostile to Usha. The remark sparked accusations of racism against El-Sayed, who is contesting a closely fought Senate race against Republican Mike Rogers.

Speaking to Fox News, Usha Vance said she "kind of laughed" at the comment, noting she never met her husband's grandparents but knows and loves the family members they raised, including his mother and his aunt, Lori Meibers, whom she described as "like a second mother" to her. She said she believed the grandparents would also have been loving. Usha Vance, the California-raised daughter of Indian immigrants, met JD Vance at Yale Law School; they married in 2014 and recently welcomed their fourth child. El-Sayed also drew criticism for a separate post targeting Natalie Harp, an aide connected to the Trump administration, made the same day.