Biography
Rep. Mike Thompson represents California’s 4th Congressional District, which includes all or parts of Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma, and Yolo Counties. Thompson serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, where he is Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Tax and a senior member of the Health Subcommittee.
From an early age, Rep. Thompson learned the value of hard work and service to country. The grandson of Italian immigrants, he was born and grew up in St. Helena, California, in a working-class family.
As a young man, Rep. Thompson dropped out of high school to enlist in the U.S. Army. He served in combat during the Vietnam War as a staff sergeant and platoon leader with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, where he was wounded in action and awarded the Purple Heart. After returning from combat, he continued his service by training others as an instructor at the Army’s Airborne School.
After returning home, worked as the maintenance supervisor at Beringer Winery. He later returned to school using the GI Bill and became the first in his family to earn a college degree. He attended Napa Valley Community College and graduated from California State University, Chico and later earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration, also from CSU Chico.
Thompson was elected to the California State Senate, where he represented the 2nd District and chaired the Budget Committee. He was the first Vietnam veteran elected to the California State Senate. Following his time in the State Senate, he was elected to Congress.
In Congress, Rep. Thompson has focused his legislative work on lowering costs for families, making sure corporations pay their fair share in taxes, gun violence prevention, clean energy, environmental conservation, economic growth, infrastructure investment, education, and health care.
Rep. Thompson understands the challenges working families face because he lived them. As costs for housing, health care, child care, energy, and education continue to rise, Thompson has led the effort to design a comprehensive, targeted bill – the American Affordability Act – that puts money back in Americans’ pockets and strengthens the economy.
A key component of the American Affordability Act builds on Rep. Thompson’s clean energy tax credits signed into law under President Biden as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. These incentives encourage new renewable energy projects, helping lower utility costs for families while strengthening America’s clean energy economy, national security, and bring good paying jobs to our community.
Rep. Thompson is Co-Chair of the bipartisan Military Veterans Caucus. He has led legislative efforts to expand treatment options for servicemembers experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury, improve employment opportunities for veterans transitioning to civilian life, and modernizing GI Bill education benefits.
Following the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, Thompson was appointed Chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. He is a hunter and gun owner and supports the Second Amendment, while also advocating for policies aimed at reducing gun violence, including expanding background checks for all firearm sales.
Rep. Thompson is a small vineyard owner, and is the co-founder and co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Wine Caucus, which includes more than 215 members of Congress, and has twice served as co-chair of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus. He is also a member of the Blue Dog Coalition focusing on fiscal responsibility.
An avid outdoorsman, Rep. Thompson has helped protect more than one million acres of wilderness across Northern California. In recognition of some of these efforts, he received the Sierra Club’s coveted Edgar Wayburn Award.
Rep. Thompson has co-authored comprehensive immigration reform and consistently fought for marginalized communities. He has supported legislation to protect civil rights and equality, including repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” protecting same-sex couples, preventing discrimination with the Equality Act, strengthening hate crime laws, defending transgender rights, and protecting a woman’s right to choose.
He is married to Janet Thompson, a family nurse practitioner. They have two sons, a firefighter and a deputy sheriff, and three granddaughters.