Less than a month before the 2022 election, Utah Republican Mike Lee’s reelection campaign received a contribution from Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. It was the second time she donated to his campaign during the 2022 election cycle.
Federal campaign disclosures show Thomas donated $750 to Lee’s 2022 campaign — $500 on Oct. 19 and another $250 on June 30 following his primary election win. According to Federal Election Commission records, Thomas also donated $250 to Lee’s first campaign for Senate in 2010, which was her second-ever donation to an individual campaign.
Lee defeated independent candidate Evan McMullin in November 53% to 42%.
Thomas’ support for Lee’s political endeavors extends beyond campaign cash. Thomas founded the conservative political group Liberty Central in 2009. The following year, Liberty Central endorsed several congressional candidates, the first being Lee.
After Lee was sworn into office in 2011, he joined with Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Jim DeMint of South Carolina to form the Senate Tea Party Caucus. Thomas was a featured speaker at the group’s first public meeting.
Lee and Thomas were both involved in the effort to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. They both texted then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows after the election was called for President Joe Biden.
Both Thomas and Lee had connections to conservative lawyer John Eastman’s legally dubious scheme to have states won by Biden submit alternate presidential electors to throw the election to Trump. Lee referenced the plan in texts with Meadows, while the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol reportedly has email correspondence between Thomas and Eastman after the election.
Thomas also donated to Texas congressman Chip Roy during the 2022 election. Roy played a role in the effort by Trump to undo his election loss, texting with Meadows in the days leading up to Jan. 6.
Forbes reports Thomas has donated thousands of dollars to Republican candidates since 2010, including the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.
Thomas isn’t the only Supreme Court spouse who has donated to political candidates. Forbes found other Supreme Court spouses had donated to federal campaigns, with the most coming from former Justice Stephen Breyer’s wife, Joanna. Patrick Jackson, the husband of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, donated a total of $3,500 to Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
Lee also reeled in more than $23,000 in political donations from Leonard Leo, the co-founder of the Federalist Society, during the 2022 election cycle. Leo also controls a conservative nonprofit that received a massive $1.6 billion gift last year, thought to be one of the largest political donations in history. That nonprofit, Marble Freedom Trust, is headquartered at an address in North Salt Lake.
Lee’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
