US Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, on Sunday announced the birth of their fourth child, making him the first sitting US vice president in more than 150 years to welcome a baby while in office.
The couple said their son, Alec Neel Vance, was born on Sunday and joins his older siblings — Ewan, 9, Vivek, 6, and Mirabel, 4.
"We are excited to announce that our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, was born this morning. Usha and the baby are happy and healthy, and our kids are overjoyed to meet their little brother," the couple said in a joint statement posted on social media.
They also thanked the doctors and staff at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the White House medical team for their care.
The birth marks a rare milestone in American political history. According to the White House Historical Association, the last sitting vice president to welcome a child was Schuyler Colfax, whose son Schuyler Colfax III was born in 1870 while he was serving as vice president. Before that, John C. Calhoun became a father while in office when his son William was born in 1829.
The newest addition to the Vance family also aligns with the vice president's long-standing advocacy for higher birth rates in the United States. Since entering politics, Vance has frequently voiced concerns over the country's declining fertility rates and has repeatedly encouraged Americans to have larger families.
Speaking at the 2025 March for Life rally in Washington, Vance declared, "I want more babies in the United States of America."
The Republican vice president, 41, has often travelled overseas with Usha Vance, 40, and their three children, with the family becoming a familiar presence on official trips aboard Air Force Two.
Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants and a former attorney who clerked for US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, announced her pregnancy in January. The pregnancy drew widespread public attention, partly because it is uncommon for occupants of America's highest elected offices to expand their families while serving.
The Vances' fourth child also arrives amid what has been described as a mini baby boom within President Donald Trump's administration. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and his wife Katie Miller recently welcomed their fourth child, while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt gave birth to her second child in May.
During her pregnancy, Usha Vance also attracted attention after The New York Times highlighted the coral maternity dress she wore while hosting a Father's Day episode of her video podcast, Storytime with the Second Lady. The newspaper wrote that the public visibility of pregnancies among prominent women in the administration projected "an image of idealized womanhood that gives literal shape to the pronatalist movement."
Usha responded with humour on social media.
"Now that we know the political significance of my $8.75 coral maternity dress from Old Navy, can't wait to hear what the New York Times has to say about my elastic-waistband pants and compression socks! In the meantime, enjoy my pregnancy fashion (or lack thereof) and a good story with your kids on Storytime with the Second Lady."
She later shared the receipt for the discounted dress, prompting her husband to joke: "She bought a $50 dress for $8.75. America: meet your next director of the federal budget!"
Vance has also said that the decision to have another child was influenced in part by a conversation with Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was killed in 2025.
"It was very powerful, what (Erika) said about her own family, and certainly very moving to both of us. I think I had already started to open my mind to the possibility," Usha Vance said during a joint interview with CBS Sunday Morning in June.
"I wouldn't say that this was, for me in any way, the decisive factor. But it came in the middle of a conversation that we were already having," she added.
