The last time a sitting vice president’s family welcomed a baby, Ulysses S. Grant occupied the White House.
That stretch ended in July, when Usha and JD Vance had a son named Alec. On Halloween, the vice president posted a video that put the infant in front of a national audience.
Vance, 41, wore a long grey wig and robe to play Albus Dumbledore, the Hogwarts headmaster from the Harry Potter franchise. He cradled Alec, who wore a knitted hat with long elf ears styled after Dobby, the series’ house elf.
“Hey guys, Vice President Dumbledore here with little Dobby the Elf,” Vance told the camera. “Wishing you a Happy Halloween. Have fun, be safe, eat a lot of candy.”
A separate family photo showed the rest of the household in costume. Second Lady Usha Vance wore the Sorting Hat, and eldest son Ewan dressed as Harry Potter. Vivek came as a spider and Mirabel as a dragon.
The Economic Times reported that Vance had already told the public about the theme, explaining that his children love the books and films.
Alec’s birth places the family in rare company. Schuyler Colfax, who served as Grant’s vice president, and his wife Ellen had a son in 1870. No sitting vice president’s family had added a newborn since.
Usha and JD Vance announced in January that they were expecting their fourth child.
The couple’s path to a fourth child runs through tragedy, according to Vance’s memoir Communion, published this year.
He wrote that the two had decided against more children because of the pressures of public life. The assassination of his close friend Charlie Kirk last fall changed Usha’s mind, he said.
“Something changed for Usha, and not long after we buried my friend, she became pregnant with our fourth child, a boy. One life was stolen from us, but another was given,” he wrote.
Usha addressed the subject in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning.
She said Erika Kirk’s regret about not having more children with her murdered husband was “very powerful,” but she described it as not the deciding factor. “I think I had already started to open my mind to the possibility,” she said.
Social media users split sharply over the Halloween post. Critics piled on within hours. “This dude will never be president,” one wrote. Another posted, “JD Vance literally just keeps hitting all new lows.”
The wig drew its own wave of jokes. Some users dug up a resurfaced photo of Vance in a blonde wig from years ago. “Any excuse to wear a wig,” a third commented.
Defenders answered just as loudly. Many noted that Vance was a father celebrating a holiday with his child.
“Happy Halloween to you and your family, Mr. Vice President! Great costumes. Kids grow up fast, so enjoy every minute of it,” one user wrote.
Others focused on the baby. “Politics aside, that baby is ridiculously cute,” one comment read. Another user called the pairing “the most wholesome thing on the timeline today.”
The video arrived just days before the November midterms. Polls forecast a rough night for Republicans, who face potential heavy losses in both the House and the Senate.
Vance has stayed on the campaign trail through the final stretch, though not every stop has gone smoothly.
Last week, at a CNN town hall in Ohio, critics branded him “insensitive” after he made a joke while answering a young woman’s question about rising prices and affordability.
Vance thanked her, began counting aloud, then moved to another subject.
He said he had taken four or five questions all night and received only one about Senate candidate John Husted. Jesse Watters of Primetime had asked it.
He later returned to her question. Vance acknowledged that Republicans do not pay enough attention to affordability for young people, though he cast himself as the exception.
Cost of living ranks at the top of voters’ concerns. President Donald Trump has spent the closing days of the campaign calling the affordability crisis a “hoax.”
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