United States California Members of the United States House of Representatives Congressperson Mike Thompson

Rep. Mike Thompson, a 72-year-old Democrat from St. Helena, has been a fixture of Congress since the late 1990s. Thanks to redistricting, though, he only recently started representing the 4th District, which was previously in the Sierra Nevada mountains east of Sacramento.

Prior to his time in the 4th District, Thompson represented the 1st District from 1999 to 2013 and the 5th District from 2013 to 2023. The districts have always been in the vicinity of Napa, with the Napa Valley Register noting about Thompson in 2000, “He points to the establishment of the Congressional wine caucus as being a major accomplishment of his first term.” As of 2023, he is still co-chair of this caucus, which his bio describes as a bipartisan group with more than 215 members.

Background

By the time Thompson came to Congress, he was already a two-time Purple Heart winner and the first Vietnam War veteran elected to the California State Senate. The Napa Valley Register noted this distinction during the 2000 election, also reporting that Thompson had served as a platoon leader for the 173rd Air Brigade. Ballotpedia places Thompson’s years of Vietnam service as 1969 to 1972.

Prior to his election to the State Senate, Thompson was an aide to California Assemblywoman Jackie Speier, who later was also elected to Congress. In 2012, Thompson helped bring national attention to Speier—who survived being shot on an airstrip in Guyana in 1978 by followers of cult leader Jim Jones when her boss, Rep. Leo Ryan, was gunned down—being given a Purple Heart by another member of Congress.

Thompson served in the State Senate from 1990 until he ran for Congress in 1998, when he was faced with being termed out of the legislature. He could sometimes do work seemingly across the aisle, telling the Chico Enterprise-Record in 1993, “If we don’t do welfare reform this year, the governor [Republican Pete Wilson] will and it will be real draconian.”

Thompson is married to Janet Thompson. Mike is actually Thompson’s middle name, with Charles his birth name.

Committees

House Committee on Ways and Means
Health subcommittee (senior member)
Gun Violence Prevention Task Force

Select Legislation

Thompson’s bio states that his No. 1 congressional priority “is to create jobs and grow our economy. He has co-authored numerous pieces of legislation to improve our nation’s infrastructure, boost our renewable energy economy, and better our education system.”

As of this writing, 13 pieces of legislation that Thompson has sponsored have become law, most relating to the naming of government facilities or awarding Tour de France great Greg LeMond and late “Peanuts” cartoonist Charles Schulz with congressional gold medals.

District Boundaries and Office Locations

Since redistricting following the 2020 census, the 4th Congressional District covers all of Napa and Lake counties and parts of Yolo, Solano and Sonoma counties. Thompson keeps the following offices:

• Capitol office: 268 Cannon Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 | Ph: (202) 225-3311 | F: (202) 225-4335


• District office: 622 Main St, Suite 106, Woodland, CA 95695 | Ph: (530) 753-5301


• District office: 2721 Napa Valley Corporate Drive, Napa, CA 94558 | Ph: (707) 226-9898 | F: (707) 251-9800


• District office: 2300 County Center Dr, Suite A100, Santa Rosa, CA 95403 | Ph: (707) 542-7182 | F: (707) 542-2745

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