Usha and JD Vance break a 150-year-old record after welcoming new baby

Vice President of the US, JD Vance, and his wife Usha have broken a 150-year-old record after they welcomed a new baby at the weekend.

The couple's new son arrived on Sunday, named Alec Neel Vance.

He is their fourth child, joining siblings Ewan, 9; Vivek, 6; and Mirabel, 4.

His arrival means the Vice President and Second Lady are record breakers, as little Alec is the first child born to a sitting Vice President in more than 150 years.

JD shared the couple's happy news on social media, posting a statement signed by them both: “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."

They went on to share their thanks for the doctors and staff who helped at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in addition to the White House medical team, calling them 'a blessing'.

Vance is a staunch advocate for people having more children in the US, in a bid to reverse the declining birth rates.

Speaking in Washington last year at a March For Life anti-abortion rally, he insisted: “I want more babies in the United States of America.”

A sitting vice president hasn't become a new father since the 1800s.

According to the White House Historical Association, the previous title was held by Vice President Schuyler Colfax and his second wife, Ellen Wade.

The couple welcomed a son, Schuyler Colfax III, in 1870.

Before that was John C. Calhoun and his wife, Floride Bonneau, who had a son, William, in 1829.

Critics had hit out at Usha, saying her promotion of her pregnancy was 'pronatalist' and 'idealised'.

According to AP, The Times called it 'an image of idealized womanhood that gives literal shape to the pronatalist movement,' when she was pictured wearing a clingy maternity dress in a YouTube video.

Usha hit back on social media, writing: “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 also shared a receipt for the dress, to confirm the bargain price.

JD had also credited Charlie Kirk's widow, Erika, with inspiring them to have another child after she said she wished she had more children with Charlie before he was killed.

Usha told CBS Sunday Morning in June: “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."

However, she went on to add: “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.”