JD Vance Reveals What Made Usha Vance Want Baby Number Four

US Vice President JD Vance reveals in his upcoming book Communion the reason behind his wife Usha Vance’s change of heart on having a fourth child. He details that it was the assassination of the American podcaster and his friend Charlie Kirk and a conversation with Kirk’s widow Erika that made Usha open to the possibility of expanding their family. The Vances who announced the pregnancy on 20 January are expected to have their fourth baby, a boy, later this year.

In his book, Vance recounts how he had been asking Usha for another child for years. But Usha had told him that she was done;  especially now that his public service had put them into constant spotlight.

However, he writes, that “something changed” after Kirk’s death. RadarOnline, an American digital news and entertainment platform, reports that in a passage from the book, Vance recounts the instance when Usha held Erika for the first time as she mourned her husband’s demise. Erika told Usha that she regretted having only two kids with her husband. She said that she wished “she had had more children.” This moment took place right after JD Vance and Erika shared a lengthy embrace on stage on 29 October, 2025 which went viral online.

Separately, in an interview with Megyn Kelly, Erika said that she had even prayed to God that she was pregnant when her husband died. “Charlie and I had planned to have four kids, I now tell young couples to not put it off,” said Erika.

Vance says that the interaction with Erika altered Usha’s views on having more children and not long after “we buried my friend, she became pregnant with our fourth baby.”

Conversely, earlier, Vance had presented a varying account of this matter. In a public remark about Usha’s pregnancy, he recalled the time when he had decided to run for the vice president. He said that he had asked for a fourth baby at the time but Usha had given him two options instead; “you can either become the vice president or you can have another baby.” He rejoiced that he got both because he was ‘persuasive’.

As for Usha, she has a different story to tell. Usha says that she had never “closed the door” on having a fourth baby. Talking with Kate Snow on NBC, she recalled that she grew up in a family of two and had thought it was an ideal number. But then when she had two kids, she didn't feel ‘quite done’. “I really wanted to have a third child”, said Usha.

Usha describes that while at one stage her family did feel “complete with three kids”, she later became “more and more excited about the possibility” of expanding her family. “I knew I’d be happy if we had three children and I’d still be happy if we had four”, says Usha, and so “if there was a chance, I had to take it.”