The Republican nominee for vice president brings a few things to Donald Trump’s race for president. That includes a wife who grew up in Rancho Peñasquitos.
Usha Chilukuri Vance is the daughter of Indian immigrants who worked in academics and engineering. Bill Wells, the mayor of El Cajon also grew up in Rancho Peñasquitos, though he said he graduated high school quite a bit earlier.
Wells is also a Congressional candidate in California’s 51st district, and he said Senator JD Vance of Ohio appeals to him in various ways.
A delegate at the 2024 Republican National Convention, Wells said Trump’s running mate brings a younger generation to the ticket and he is a good answer to the concern about old men running the country.
“One of the things that is really lacking, not just in the presidency but in the Senate and in the House, frankly too many people who should have retired 10, 15 years ago,” Wells said. “You know, JD brings a youth and a vitality to the ticket that I think we need, I think people are looking for.”
Wells said he knows Usha Vance’s resume — her work as a lawyer and her degree from Yale — but he doesn’t know much more about her. He said he thinks the Republican Party tends to ignore California, seeing it as a one-party state, and he hopes she might affect that.
“So anything that can bring more light onto the issues of California and San Diego, and get Republicans more involved in that … I’m all for that,” Wells said.
JD Vance is the author of the best-selling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," which described his poor white upbringing in southern Ohio. Wells said he read the book, and it’s something he easily relates to.
“I grew up very much the same way. I grew up in an extremely dysfunctional kind of family with a single mom. So I’m always feeling a kinship with folks who pull themselves out of that kind of dysfunctionality and do something with their lives,” Wells said.
Political observers have pointed out that Vance was extremely critical of Trump, prior to and during part of his presidency. Wells said that doesn’t mean he can’t change his views and work with Trump.
“Frankly, if you excoriated every Republican who was anti-Trump at some point, in the last 10 years, there wouldn’t be many of us left,” he said.
Wells is challenging incumbent Democrat Sara Jacobs in his race for Congress.
