Ginni Thomas Donated $15,000 To GOP Campaigns, Including Trump’s

Zach Everson
Staff Writer
MARCH 21, 2022
The spouse of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Ginni Thomas, has contributed at least $15,000 to Republican political committees, according to federal and state records.

Her conservative activism, including work to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and
attendance at the January 6 rally that segued into the riots at the Capitol, has raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest for her husband.

Thomas has donated at least $13,000 in support of Republicans running for national office, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign apparatus took in $2,100 from Thomas, $290 of which came while Trump was president. Ginni Thomas and a spokesperson for the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to inquiries. (The Supreme Court Justice was admitted to the hospital Friday night with an infection.)

Clarence Thomas was the sole dissenting vote in the Supreme Court’s ruling last month rejecting Trump’s attempt to block the House Select Committee from obtaining his records regarding January 6.

The Congressional campaigns Thomas has supported tend to be for some of the most-conservative Republicans. In October 2020, she contributed $1,000 to the House Freedom Caucus’s PAC, which backed incumbents that year like
Mo Brooks, Louie Gohmert and Paul Gosar, as well as challengers Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Thomas also pitched in $1,000 in support of Paul Nehlen’s unsuccessful 2016 attempt to primary then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), $500 of which came just days after Nehlen said, “The question is, why do we have Muslims in the country?” during a radio interview.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sits with his wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, while he waits to speak at the Heritage Foundation on October 21, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Getty Images
A resident of Virginia, Thomas contributed another $2,000 to Republicans running for statewide office there between 2016 and 2019, according to government data presented by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.

Thomas also donated a total of $750 to Republican contestants for state senate seats in Texas and Wisconsin. And in 2010, she donated $500 to John Eastman’s campaign for attorney general of California. He lost, but would go on to be an ally of hers a decade later in their attempt to overturn a presidential election.

“There are no laws against Ginni Thomas or really any Supreme Court spouse or anyone on the Supreme Court from donating to political candidates,” said Gabe Roth, executive director of the nonpartisan Fix The Court, which aims to make federal courts more open and accountable. “Ginni Thomas is perfectly capable of having her own life,” he said. “But if you are married to a Supreme Court justice, what you do rubs off on him.”

Thomas also serves on the board of C.N.P. Action, the political advocacy arm of the right-wing Council for National Policy, according to an agenda from the group’s February 2022 meeting obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy. The council pushed Republican state lawmakers to appoint fake electors and challenge the Electoral College result, the New York Times reported last month.

Combined, the other six Supreme Court spouses have contributed about $7,500 to federal campaigns, most of which came from Stephen Breyer’s wife, Joanna, who donated $6,700 to Democrats. The husband of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, Patrick Jackson, donated a total of $3,500 to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Within months of Jackson contributing $1,700 to Obama in 2012, the president nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to become a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Ginni Thomas, the wife of sitting Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, contributed $292 to then-President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again Committee in July 2020. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION/TRUMP MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN COMMITTEE
Welcome to the latest issue of Checks & Imbalances
Today we take a look at the many, many Republican politicians who've been spotted recently at Mar-a-Lago. 


Checks & Imbalances publishes on Mondays and Thursdays. Please support this work, if you can, by 
subscribing to Forbes. Any tips or suggestions? Email me at zeverson@forbes.com.  And you can follow me on Twitter at @z_everson. Thanks! 

In Case You Missed It
Tracking Trump
The Republican Party of Palm Beach County returned to Mar-a-Lago on Friday for its 2022 Lincoln Day dinner. Special guests at the sold-out event included Florida Republicans Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, Reps. Byron Donalds and Brian Mast, and state Attorney General Ashley Moody. Also in attendance was Mehmet Oz, the TV personality running for Senate in Pennsylvania. The club’s resident-in-chief also made an appearance.
Instagram/Rep. Toby Overdorf
Instagram/Rep. Toby Overdorf
Instagram/Sofia Manolesco
Instagram/Erika Donalds
Instagram/Angie Wong
Instagram/Ashley Moody
Instagram/Bill Lewis
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) dined at Mar-a-Lago with the former president as Thomas DeVote, a candidate for attorney general in Illinois, and Newsmax’s Mark Vargas looked on.
Instagram/Mark Vargas
On Thursday, Vernon Jones held a campaign fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago that featured remarks from Trump. Jones is running for Congress after dropping out of Georgia’s gubernatorial race to clear the field for David Perdue, at Trump’s urging. Trump has endorsed Jones.
Instagram/Vernon Jones

Cory Mills, a Republican running for Congress in Florida, had a great time at Mar-a-Lago.

Instagram/Cory Mills
Anna Paulina Luna’s running for Congress in Florida, while Karoline Leavitt is a candidate in New Hampshire. But Mar-a-Lago brought them together.
Instagram/Karoline Leavitt
Scott Kasper, a Republican candidate for Congress in Illinois, chatted with Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani and Trump pardon recipient Bernie Kerik at Mar-a-Lago.
Instagram/Kasper for Congress
New York City councilperson Ina Vernikov parlayed her Mar-a-Lago visit into coverage in the Daily Mail.
New York City councilperson Ina Vernikov parlayed her Mar-a-Lago visit into coverage in the Daily Mail. Instagram/Ina Vernikov
Trump’s former acting attorney general Matt Whitaker made remarks recently at his one-time boss’s club.
Instagram/Matt Whitaker
Trump pardon recipient Roger Stone was all smiles at Mar-a-Lago.
Instagram/Derek Utley

Forbes continues to update "Tracking Trump: A Rundown Of All The Lawsuits And Investigations Involving The Former President.” Among the latest developments: the chair of the House Committee on January 6th said public hearings will likely begin in May.

Politicians were in the pockets.
There were senators on the edge.
Willie Nile, "The Day The Earth Stood Still"
Zach Everson
Forbes staff writer
I took an unusual route to get here. In a past life, I worked as a travel and food writer, which is how I got the assignment in 2016 to cover the grand opening of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., just a couple miles from my home. When Trump won the election and refused to divest his business, I stayed on the story, starting a newsletter called 1100 Pennsylvania (named after the hotel’s address), and contributed to Vanity Fair, Politico and NBC News. I’m still interested in Trump, but I’ve broadened my focus to follow the money connected to other politicians as well—both Republicans and Democrats.
Follow me on Twitter.
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