By admin 
Political newcomer Eric Jones is mounting a serious challenge to a veteran Rep. Mike Thompson in Northern California’s sprawling 4th Congressional District.
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Thompson, D-St. Helena, has held the seat since he was first elected in 1998. This election, he will try to fend off Jones who is a former venture capitalist and fellow Democrat. Jones, using his own money, has out raised the congressman thus far.
Thompson easily advanced in the primary with 41% of the vote. Jones advanced by narrowly beating out Republican candidate Ray Riehle with 22.2% of the vote compared to 20.7%.
Riehle, and other Republican candidates from the primary, have endorsed Jones in recent weeks.
The district remains primarily blue despite some conservative territories — Sutter, Yuba and Colusa counties — swept into its boundaries under newly drawn congressional maps reshaped by Proposition 50.
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Where is the district?
The newly drawn 4th District includes parts of nine counties, stretching from the Napa Valley through Yolo County and into the Sacramento Valley. Some of the larger cities in the district are Yuba City, Woodland, Lincoln, Winters, Petaluma and American Canyon.
Who are the candidates?
Thompson, 75, was first elected to Congress in 1998, and has won reelection 13 times since. He currently 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. Before his time in Congress, he was the first Vietnam veteran elected to the state Senate, where he served five years. Thompson, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Chico State, has emphasized gun violence prevention, fiscal responsibility and health care while in Congress, according to his campaign website.
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Jones, 35, was raised in Maine and graduated from Yale before beginning his career as a venture capitalist in San Francisco. He is the founder of the American Dream Institute, a nonprofit that hopes to engage young people. His campaign has focused on reaching disaffected voters, particularly younger demographics, whom he says both major political parties have lost hold of in recent years. Some of his top priorities include expanding Medicare, enacting term limits and taxing billionaires and corporations, according to his campaign website.
Who is funding the race?
Jones, with millions in self-funding, has more than doubled Thompson in fundraising.
Jones reported raising $8.37 million between July 2025 and the end of June, the latest filing deadline for the Federal Election Commission website. More than half of that money — $5.4 million — came from himself.
He also received several individual donations from top executives of companies in Silicon Valley. Among the donors was Luis von Ahn, co-founder of popular language learning app Duolingo.
Jones, who has vowed not to accept donations from corporate political action groups, has about $656,000 cash on hand.
Thompson received $4.13 million in donations from January 2025 to the end of June. Nearly $2.3 million of Thompson’s fundraising came from individuals, and more than $1.8 million from a variety of political action committees and other collectives. Some of his top donors included PACs associated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Automobile Dealers Association and National Association of Letter Carriers.
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Thompson has roughly $1.08 million cash on hand.