Charles Michael Thompson (born January 24, 1951) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for (known as the 1st congressional district until 2013, and the until 2023) since 1999. The district, in the outer northern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area, includes all of Napa County and parts of Contra Costa, Lake, Solano, Yolo and Sonoma counties. Thompson chairs the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Early life, education and career
Thompson was born in St. Helena, California, the son of Beverly Ann (née Forni) and Charles Edward Thompson. His father was of English ancestry and his mother was of Italian and Swiss descent. He was educated at California State University, Chico, served in Vietnam with the United States Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade, was a vineyard owner and maintenance supervisor, taught Public Administration and State Government at San Francisco State University and California State University, Chico, and was a member of the California State Senate before entering the House.
Early political career
Thompson served as an aide to Jackie Speier (then a state assemblywoman) before winning election to the California State Senate in 1990. He unseated 4th District incumbent Jim Nielsen after a controversy over Nielsen's primary residence; Thompson's margin of victory was less than 1%.
After the 1992 general election, State Senator Barry Keene of the neighboring 2nd District resigned. Thompson, whose hometown of St. Helena had shifted from the 4th District into the 2nd after reapportionment, ran in the 1993 special election for Keene's seat. He narrowly beat Republican businesswoman Margie Handley and was elected to a full term in 1994.
National Democrats approached Thompson about running for Congress in 1996 against freshman Republican Frank Riggs. Thompson's state Senate district was virtually coextensive with the congressional district. Thompson declined, believing his Senate seniority would be more beneficial to his district than would his being a freshman U.S. congressman. But in 1998, Thompson was due to be termed out of the state Senate, and opted to run for Congress. Riggs did not seek reelection to his House seat and made an unsuccessful bid for the United States Senate. Thompson was elected by almost a 30% margin and has been reelected ever since without substantive opposition, turning what was a swing district for most of the 1980s and '90s into a fairly safe Democratic seat.
For his first seven terms, Thompson represented a district stretching from the far northern part of the San Francisco Bay Area all the way to the North Coast. But after the 2010 census, his district was renumbered as the 5th and made somewhat more compact, losing most of its northern part to the 2nd District.
U.S. House of Representatives
Tenure
Thompson is a member of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition. Nonetheless, as of October 2021 he had voted in line with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time.
Political positions
Abortion
Thompson is a Roman Catholic, but is pro-choice. In May 2004, he and 47 other Catholic Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., to dissuade him from refusing to administer Holy Communion to Catholic members who voted in favor of pro-choice legislation. In February 2006, Thompson was one of 55 Democratic U.S. representatives identifying as Catholic who signed a "Statement of Principles" that affirmed a commitment to their faith but acknowledged opposition to Catholic doctrine on some issues. They wrote that on those issues, such as abortion rights, they would follow their conscience instead of the church's teachings. In response, the U.S. Catholic Bishops issued a "Statement on Responsibilities of Catholics in Public Life" that said, in part, "Catholic teaching calls all Catholics to work actively to restrain, restrict and bring to an end the destruction of unborn human life."
Thompson opposed the overturning of Roe v. Wade, calling it "an assault on women."
Cannabis
In 2015, Thompson proposed tougher penalties for marijuana growers who operate on trespassed land. The United States Sentencing Commission adopted the tougher sentencing guidelines, which went into effect in November 2015, after a six-month congressional review. The guidelines were intended to increase public safety.