US Vice President and second lady JD and Usha Vance welcome fourth child, a baby boy named Alec Neel

US Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, have welcomed their fourth child, a baby boy named Alec.

Alec Neel Vance was born in Bethesda, Maryland, on Sunday, joining older siblings: nine-year-old Ewan, six-year-old Vivek and four-year-old Mirabel.

“We are excited to announce that our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, was born this morning,” Mr Vance announced in a statement. “Usha and the baby are happy and healthy, and our kids are overjoyed to meet their little brother.”

The couple thanked doctors and staff at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre and the White House medical team.

Alec is also the first baby born to a sitting vice president in over 150 years.

Mr Vance, a former US Marine, has been very vocal in lobbying for Americans to have more children and repeatedly highlighted the declining birth rates in the US during his bid in 2021 for a US Senate seat from Ohio.

Last year, Mr Vance said, “I want more babies in the United States of America”, during a March for Life anti-abortion rally.

The vice president, who is 41, has often been accompanied on overseas trips by Mrs Vance, 40, and their children.

There was much interest in Mrs Vance’s pregnancy when it was announced in January because the last time a sitting vice president became a new father was in the 19th century

Schuyler Colfax and his second wife, Ellen Wade, had a son, Schuyler Colfax III, in 1870 when Mr Colfax was vice president of the US, according to the White House Historical Association.

Before that, John C. Calhoun and wife, Floride Bonneau, had a son, William, in 1829 when Mr Calhoun was vice president, the association said.