Rep. Mike Thompson (D)

The congressman from the 1st District is Mike Thompson, a Democrat first elected in 1998. Thompson grew up in the Napa Valley town of St. Helena, dropped out of high school, served in the Army in Vietnam, and earned a Purple Heart. Later, he got a bachelor’s and master’s degree from what is now California State University at Chico. He owned a vineyard and worked as a maintenance supervisor for Beringer, a big winery in the valley. From 1984 to 1990, he was the chief of staff to two Bay Area Assembly members. In 1990, he was elected to the state Senate, where he chaired the Budget Committee. In 1998, he ran for the U.S. House seat of Republican Frank Riggs, who planned to challenge Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer that year. Thompson faced only weak opposition and had support from almost every interest group that matters in the district: unions, medical providers, vintners, oil and timber interests, environmental advocates, law enforcement groups, and fishermen. His issue stands—opposition to oil drilling off the California coast, support of abortion rights and the death penalty—were broadly popular. He won the primary 78%-22% and the general election 62%-33%. He has not been seriously challenged since then.

In the House, Thompson is a moderate Democrat whose voting record is among the least liberal of coastal Californians. He joined both the New Democrats and the Blue Dog Coalition of conservative Democrats. With Republican Rep. George Radanovich of California, he started the Congressional Wine Caucus. The group lost a battle with conservative senators, allied with beer and alcohol wholesalers, on a bill giving states new power to restrict sales over the Internet. He joined California GOP Rep. Jerry Lewis on a proposal to create a $1 billion fund for making buildings more resistant to earthquakes. After a massive fish kill caused by flooding of the Klamath River in 2002, he won $60 million in emergency aid for fishermen and businesses. And his legislation for a salmon recovery plan in California and Oregon passed the House in December 2006.

Thompson has been a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., which gives him influence among House Democrats. But his ambition to head the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee after the 2002 election was dashed by an ill-timed visit to Iraq. Thompson traveled to Baghdad in 2002, before the United States went to war with Iraq, with Reps. David Bonior, D-Mich., and Jim McDermott, D-Wash. While there, Bonior criticized President Bush, and McDermott suggested that Iraqi Leader Saddam Hussein was more credible than Bush—statements that could be deemed impolitic with tensions running high on the sensitive issue of Iraq’s possible possession of weapons of mass destruction. Although Thompson did not make controversial comments and later conceded it was a bad idea to criticize the president from Iraq, the trip dashed his chances of assuming a high-profile party role at that time.

As consolation, Thompson was asked to lead the DCCC’s incumbent protection program, and got a seat on the House Ways and Means Committee. On the powerful panel, he was able to enact a tax break for landowners who place their land under conservation easements, a way to preserve farmland. In 2007, Thompson sponsored the Airline Passenger Bill of Rights, which requires airlines to provide basic necessities, like food, water, and well-ventilated facilities, when flights are delayed for long periods. The House passed his bill in 2007 when it reauthorized the Federal Aviation Administration.

Thompson also chairs the Intelligence Subcommittee on Terrorism, Human Intelligence, Analysis, and Counterintelligence. The 2008 defense bill contained his provision cracking down on abuses of private contractors in Iraq and expanded the authority of a special inspector general. Thompson said that inspectors had found that “contractors in Iraq charged $45 per case of soda and $100 per 15-pound bag of laundry.… $8.8 billion was handed over to Iraqi ministries with virtually no tracking of what it was spent on.”

Following the 2008 election, he was mentioned as a contender for Interior secretary in the Obama administration, a position that ultimately went to then-Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.