Usha Vance speaks like someone still half-surprised to find herself on a national stage, but fully aware of the weight it carries. She describes these four years not as a launchpad, but as a contained season of duty — to her children, to her marriage, and to a country she never expected to serve so visibly. The fantasy she admits to is strikingly ordinary: returning home, resuming her legal career, reclaiming anonymity.

Her conversation with Meghan McCain reveals a woman trying to anchor herself in the familiar while history swirls around her family. She delights in the small chaos of three children who move as a pack, in the built-in caretaking and competition that makes their home feel alive. Politics, for now, is simply the backdrop. Faith, family, and presence are the priorities she clings to, even as others speculate about a future she refuses to script.