It's Kamala Harris vs JD Vance in US, but on social media it's Tamil Nadu vs Andhra Pradesh. Here's why

US vice-president Kamala Harris with husband and lawyer Douglas Emhoff; (right) Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance with his wife and legal associate Usha Chilukuri Vance. (Image credit: @advsanjoy/X)

The US presidential election has pitted vice-president Kamala Harris against Republican candidate and Donald Trump's choice for vice-president, JD Vance. For Indians on social media, however, it is Tamil Nadu versus Andhra Pradesh because Harris's mother hails from Chennai and Vance's wife Usha Chilukuri Vance has her roots in Andhra Pradesh.

Kamala Harris's connection to India can be traced to the Besant Nagar neighbourhood of Chennai where her mother was born. Shyalama Gopalan moved to the US as a teen for a doctoral degree at the University of California Berkeley. There, she met Donald J. Harris of Jamaican descent. The couple got married in 1963 and welcomed daughter Kamala in 1964, followed by daughter Maya in 1967.

Usha Chilukuri Vance, on the other hand, worked as a legal clerk at the US Supreme Court and is now a successful legal associate with a private law firm in San Francisco.

Her parents used to live in Andhra Pradesh’s Chilakaluripeta before moving to the US where Usha was born. She graduated from Yale University in Bachelor of Arts with History as her major, Deccan Chronicle reported. In 2010, she completed her M.Phil in Early Modern History from the University of Columbia, and completed her JD in Law from Yale Law School in 2013.

The Indian connection between the two rival candidates was not lost on social media users.

Usha Chilukuri Vance, wife of Trump’s VP pick JD Vance, is a Yale & Cambridge grad from an Andhra Hindu family. supports him against Kamala Harris, who hails from Tamil Nadu, in the 2024 election.

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It's an election season with a flavorful Andhra vs Tamil Nadu twist!#USPolitics pic.twitter.com/bYmPL2OIKz

— Andhra Nexus (@AndhraNexus) July 16, 2024

So the US Presidential Elections are now a toss between Tamil Nadu and Andhra-Kamala v/s Usha!

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pic.twitter.com/4M7Cu2Y1un

— sanjoy ghose (@advsanjoy) July 16, 2024

Usha vs Kamala :
Indian neighborhood debates

US presidential elections https://t.co/ZSsgd3XNld

— Muktabh Mayank (@muktabh) July 15, 2024

The US presidentital election is scheduled to be held on November 5.