New Hampshire state Rep. Wendy Thomas (D-Merrimack) is a dedicated progressive, a die-hard Biden backer, and a self-declared enemy of former President Donald Trump. So when U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) was picked as Trump’s running mate, that made him a target for Thomas.
And Vance’s wife, too.
Vance is married to Usha Chilukuri Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants, who was born in San Diego. J. D. and Usha both attended Yale University. Married in 2014, the Vances have three young children.
On her Twitter feed Tuesday, Thomas posted a photo of the Vances in traditional Hindu dress taken at their wedding ceremony.
Over the photo, Thomas wrote: “If Project 2025 is enacted, JD Vance’s wife, pictured here, will be deported. And yet he still supports it.”
Project 2025 is a wish list of policy proposals begun in 2022 by the Heritage Foundation that has since grown to 900 pages of recommendations from a variety of conservative groups for the next Republican presidency. While it covers a vast array of policies and topics, none appear to include removing U.S. citizens from the country.
Asked to identify what specific Project 2025 proposal she was referencing, Thomas declined to respond.
But Granite State Republicans think they know exactly what Thomas was saying: All brown people are immigrants.
“I’m aware that Wendy Thomas was hoping to outright lie about Project 2025 to label conservatives racist, but her own tweet about it was wildly racist and disgusting,” said Melissa Blasek, a former GOP state representative who lives in Thomas’ district. “My question as her constituent is: Wendy, do you think my husband and daughter are illegal immigrants because they have more melanin than you?”
State GOP chairman Chris Ager said Thomas “exhibits the classic behavior of a racist — judging by the color of one’s skin. Bringing in the family member of a politician is disgusting as well. She needs to be booted from the House.”
House Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R-Auburn) told NHJournal that Thomas has a history of “outlandish behavior and tweets.”
For example, after the failed assassination attempt targeting Trump on Saturday, Thomas posted a video in her Twitter feed blaming political violence on Trump himself.
“She became famous for kneeling during the national anthem in House sessions and is now famous for posting deranged takes,” Osborne said. “The not-so-subtle racism of her current tweet shows just how out of touch she is with Merrimack voters who would be surprised to know that she thinks Joe Biden’s bad debate performance was a result of ‘long COVID.'”
The latter references a tweet Thomas posted attempting to defend Biden from accusations that he’s suffering from mental infirmity in the wake of his many problematic public appearances.
“First, I unequivocally support Biden for President. 100%. What everyone is calling dementia *could* be long covid. When I had long covid, I had difficulty with reading, word retrieval, and short-term memory,” Thomas tweeted.
Despite Thomas’ dismissive comments, Usha Vance has an impressive resume separate from her marriage. Usha served as a law clerk for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge Brett Kavanaugh when he was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
While a student at Yale, Usha Vance traveled to China to teach American history in Guangzhou. She’s currently a trustee of the Washington National Opera.
