Congressman Mike Thompson, D-Yolo, announced Friday that he has filed to run for reelection in California’s Fourth Congressional District.

The district includes all of Lake and Napa Counties and portions of Solano, Sonoma and Yolo Counties.

“Today, I filed my papers to run for reelection in our Congressional District,” Thompson said in a press release. “I was born, grew up and have lived my entire life in our district and I consider it the highest honor of my life to represent our beautiful district in Congress.”

Thompson explained that he’s worked to enact an investment in the nation’s infrastructure “which has improved our roads, highways, bridges, airports, ports and broadband.”

Additionally, as chairman of the House Ways and Means Select Revenues Subcommittee, he explained that he’s written legislation that provided the largest investment to combat climate change ever signed into law and has voted for legislation that is cutting prescription drug costs and health care premiums.

“Since the tragic fires in our district, I passed legislation to provide relief for fire survivors, offset costs to local and state governments, deliver assistance for agricultural producers and incentivize the building of 1,200 affordable housing units in our district,” he added. “I worked to enact the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most impactful gun violence prevention law to be enacted in nearly 30 years. I’m working to protect women’s reproductive rights, preserve Social Security, Medicare, and veterans’ benefits, pass comprehensive immigration reform, and strengthen our national security.”

As chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, Thompson has helped create legislation that addresses gun violence and mass shootings including the Safer Communities Act and a safe storage bill that would require guns to be locked if kept in homes, among other things.

In June 2022, he held a candlelight vigil honoring the lives lost in the Robb Elementary School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the racially motivated shooting in Buffalo, New York and the average of 30 lives lost to gun violence every day.

Thompson also delivered a letter he co-wrote with Nancy Pelosi and 90 members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force – which is is chairman of – to new House Speaker Mike Johnson only hours prior to the Oct. 25 Maine mass shooting that killed 18.

However, Thompson has faced criticism for his rhetoric around mental illness as it relates to gun violence. A statement from his website says he’d never give up his guns and he’d “never ask law-abiding Americans who have no history of mental illness to give up their guns.”

Veronica Pear, a social epidemiologist and assistant professor at the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program, argued that Thompson’s view comes off as “an overly narrow approach that’s going to be leaving out a lot of people who could benefit from” red flag laws.

Her research on extreme risk protection orders – California’s version of red flag laws – found that mental illness is much more likely to be related to self-harm than to harming others.

In one of her studies, Pear and her colleagues examined gun violence restraining orders in California between 2016 and 2018 by analyzing case details and respondent mortality.

The data showed that mental illness was a less severe risk factor than substance use or a sudden life-altering event such as the loss of a loved one or the end of a relationship.

“People who have mental illnesses are more likely to be harmed by others than to harm others, so it is definitely just a red herring,” she said in a June 2023 interview concerning red flag laws.

In response to this, Thompson submitted a Nov. 3 letter to the editor where he acknowledged that “research by Mental Health America shows that people who are mentally ill are more likely to be the victim than the perpetrator.”

However, Thompson’s website addressing gun violence prevention still has the statement saying he’d never ask law-abiding Americans who have no history of mental illness to give up their guns.

Furthermore, Thompson’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war has drawn criticism from Yolo County residents who for the last two weeks have been holding weekly vigils outside of his Woodland office located at 622 Main St.

Several residents from Davis and West Sacramento met with Thompson on Sunday, Nov. 11 in his Napa office to discuss his stance and the group said they left the 30-minute meeting confused and concerned with his stance.

In a press release following the meeting, the group argued that “although Thompson claimed to agree with the need to follow international law… he did not specify support for a ceasefire or other concrete actions to prevent what the UN calls a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.”

In response to the criticism, Thompson said in a Wednesday, Nov. 15 statement he has and will continue to be outspoken about imploring Israel to do everything possible to ensure civilians are protected.

“As they continue operations against the Hamas terrorists, avoiding civilian casualties must be a top priority,” he stressed.

In his press release, Thompson also highlighted his strong working relationships with local and county officials and said he is “incredibly humbled to have earned the support of mayors, supervisors, sheriffs, school superintendents and district attorneys from every county in our district as well as hundreds of business owners, farmers, educators, community leaders and countless other hardworking men and women in our district.

“In Congress, my number one priority is serving the people of our district,” he remarked. “ I’ve helped constituents recoup tens of millions of dollars from federal agencies and secured funding for local projects that improve water infrastructure, support health care delivery, upgrade public safety communication, strengthen emergency operations, combat flooding and modernize our roads.”

“Together, we can ensure our district remains the best place to live, start a business, raise a family, and retire with dignity.”

To learn more about Thompson, visit mikethompson.house.gov.