VP Vance Welcomes Baby Boy Alec... A Historic First for the Second Family in 150 Years

Vice President JD Vance announced Sunday that his wife, Usha Vance, gave birth to the couple's fourth child, a son named Alec Neel Vance.

"Our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, was born this morning," the second family said in a statement, adding that mother and baby were happy and healthy and that the couple's other children were overjoyed to meet their little brother. The family thanked the medical staff at Walter Reed Medical Center and the White House Medical Unit for their care throughout the delivery.

Usha Vance's pregnancy was announced in January, with a due date set for July. Her delivery makes her the first spouse of a sitting vice president to give birth in office in more than 150 years, since Schuyler Colfax Jr., who served as Ulysses S. Grant's first vice president, welcomed a son in 1870.

Alec joins three older siblings, Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel, all born before the 2024 election. Usha Vance, an attorney who once clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts and then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has continued hosting her podcast, "Storytime with the Second Lady," throughout the pregnancy.

The comparison to the Grant administration became a point of interest across national coverage of the birth this week, a reminder of just how rarely the vice presidency and a newborn have shared a headline. Well wishes poured in from across Washington, a rare moment of unity in a capital more often defined by its divisions.

The Last Word

A new baby in the second family is a headline for one news cycle to most of the country, but for Priests for Life it is something more permanent than that. Every child, whether born in a hospital wing reserved for a vice president's family or in a struggling household's spare bedroom, carries the same dignity and deserves the same welcome. Janet Morana, co-founder and executive director of Priests for Life, has spent decades reminding the country that the joy felt at a moment like this one belongs to every child, born in any circumstance. Congratulations to the Vance family, and welcome to the world, Alec.

Related resources: Priests for Life on the dignity of every child