By Bertie Brouhard
Maybe for our U.S. House of Representatives 4th California Congressional District Seat? Time for us on November 3rd to elect Eric Jones as our new representative?
So … who are we? And who are the incumbent, Mike Thompson, and his opponent in the midterm, General Election, Eric Jones? Soon we need to decide.
“We” of the “newish” 4th District (one of California’s 52) with its 760,000 population have an ethnic breakdown of 51.3% white, 31.4% Hispanic, 7.6% Asian and 5.3% two or more “other.” We’re solidly of the Democratic Party persuasion with a median income of $98,000 and median age of 39.9 years.
Thanks to the passage of Prop. 50 in 2020 our district’s boundaries changed again. What were new district boundaries in 2012 which shifted the population centers to the south and east were shifted again in ‘20 to the west and the Bay Area adopting the bulk of District 5. Today our district is all of Lake and Napa Counties, most of Yolo and parts of Solano and Sonoma County. It includes the cities with populations greater than 10,000 of Santa Rosa, Vacaville, Napa,Woodland, Petaluma, West Sacramento, Rohnert Park and our home; Davis.
Democratic Party candidates win most seats in our district. In 2024 Mike defeated Republican John Munn 66% to 33%. But sadly only about half our population is registered to vote and of those registered only about 50% cast a ballot. In June’s Non-partisan Primary election Thompson received some 84,000 votes to Jones’s 46,000.
(As an aside I think it’s illuminating to realize that the current Mayor of New York City, Zohran Kwame Mamdoni is 35 years of age. Born in Uganda he previously represented the 36th NY District in their General Assembly, is a Bowdoin grad and is working his “Vision Zero Redefined.”)
In mid-September I met for an hour with both “Eric” and “Mike.” Asked each the same questions and intend to share some of their different responses. I asked “Why politics? Their mentors, heroes, role models? Their ‘Wins, Successes? Self-description politically or other? Their marketing, campaign style? Office holding, legislative priorities? Stopping Trump strategy? Lowering prices, raising middle class incomes? And would they support Gavin Newsom for President?
At Morgan’s Mill in Woodland I sat down with Mike, Thomas Dowling, his Campaign Manager and Lucy Brazil, his District Representative, to better appreciate our Congressman. Mike is 75, first elected to the House in 1998 he has served for 28 years and previously represented his district in the California State Senate for 8 years. He’s married to a Nurse Practitioner and has two grown children, a Deputy Sheriff son. a fire fighter daughter and grandkids. He owns a small vineyard in his hometown of St. Helena and served in Vietnam with the U.S. Army.
Had you sat with us for coffee I think you’d have heard these sound bites.
“I’ve represented every part of northern California. Now a new district because of Prop. 50. We needed five new Democratic Districts in our state to match the new five Republicans in Texas. I supported “Stop The Steal.” I believe in representative government – a level playing field, a fair shake for everyone. Went back to school late in life. In college, profs lead me to the state legislature where I interned. I was Chief of Staff for both Lou Papan and Jackie Speer. Lou was ‘Take No Prisoners’ and Jackie was’ The Sweetest Most Articulate Attack Dog.’ Urged to run for the State Senate I served there for 8 years and then won my Congressional Seat in 1998. It’s an important job but I’m not an important person. Public service is in my DNA. In my youth I thought about becoming a priest; fascinated by the nuns in the Carmalite Monastery in Yountville who wore no shoes and slept on straw.. Maybe a game warden, maybe a doctor who had all these gimmicks; plastic hearts, lungs. St. Helena High when there was 250 kids. The marching band had members on the outside rows with matching shirts and pants but the inside players had band shirts and football pants. My main role model was my maternal grandmother; my ‘Femtor’ who taught me values; how to set a table and walk by the curb when with a female. Other role models were the many public officials on Kearny Street in St. Helena – mayor, city councilmen, judges, head of Cal Fire. George Davis, our high school football coach who won 63 straight football games was on my newspaper route. I’m a moderate Democrat getting things done for people. My staff is very straight forward telling me how I’m doing as is my wife. I’m home every weekend. My constituents tell me also. No one holds back any punches. You don’t win. You address problems. You compromise; half a loaf is OK. Both parties are happy or both are not. It’s important to remember to be successful you need to ‘know your lane.’ To build something (like a new city by Travis AFB) you need to follow the process. My opponent has said a lot about data centers, P,G&E, sunset laws. Needs to stay in the Congressional Lane. I’m a moderate politically, a fiscal conservative and a social progressive. The number one rule in my three district offices is to ‘Fix the damn problem.’ Thank you (caller) for calling. We’re sending you a form to sign and we’ll contact the appropriate party to look into your problem.’ My whole deal is working for the people. You don’t win elections in the election year. We hold an event in every county every year. There were 980 from our new and old district at our recent pasta feed in Napa and to date I’ve held 30 Town Hall Meetings. I’ve been in this district my whole life. He came into town a minute ago. The big, number one issue is AFFORDABILITY. Our answer is the American Affordability Act which offers solutions for housing, healthcare, childcare and utilities for the hurting middle class; unlike the Big Beautiful Bill which favors the wealthy and adds $4.5 trillion to our national debt. We need to flip The House; control the gavels and have a path to win The Senate. Let’s get through this midterm election before discussing the next President. There’s several great candidates; Gavin Newsom? Roy Cooper, Corey Booker, Mark Kelly? I won’t be there (The House) forever. I have a wife and grandkids. I’m battle tested, successful, taking the battle to him. We don’t need someone new. To learn the district.”
Eric joined me at Cloud Forest in downtown Davis and gave me an hour plus of his political thinking and aspirations. He comes from a military family; raised by a nurse and a disabled vet father. They relied on food stamps and Medicaid shaping Eric’s commitment to fight for affordability and economic opportunity. He’s a Yale graduate, married to an architect and makes his home in Napa where they’re raising their young son and daughter. After a career in tech capital investment, he boasts having created thousands of jobs in healthcare and education. A first time candidate (who intends to run again should he not win this election,) he’s backed by venture capital and tech companies who mirror a pattern of younger Democrats challenging establishment incumbents (Zohran-like maybe?)
Please browse these snippets of our conversation.
“Men in my family have all served. My teenage mother raised three sons and later became a nurse. My dad was a disabled veteran and they reinforced in us the value of education. Moving from Maine to South Florida we found the magical healthcare of the Mayo Clinic for my father. In New York City after graduation where I met my wife I was able to support my parents and siblings financially.. In 2021 our son was born and after some $1.5 million in medical treatment he’s now a miracle child. Moving to the Bay Area I joined the Democratic Party and worked as a fund raiser; later we founded our American Dream Institute and our family foundation. Two members of Congress urged me to run for this seat. Wishing we could wait, we can’t. There’s not a future decade or more to affect change. Our country is headed to a dark place. Corporate corruption won’t wait. A recent Chicago survey highlights that young people today are half as happy as their parents. Home ownership is degrading as are our schools and healthcare. Tech is unregulated. No one is fighting for us. New albatrosses; scary moments; a lot to cause worry. People my age have few heroes. My whole life we’ve been at war, 9/11, COVID. Society is coming apart. There is no JFK or LBJ to unite us. We must get detached from parties. Most are corporatized; march in line. We need legislation without corporate baggage; independence. Solutions need to come from the right and the left. Those who are fully invested in the machine will not change. Some much of our healthcare, insurance, education, utilities is privatized. Democracy has been co-opted. Three-fourths of our government is focused to save and benefit corporations. Need is to be friends with everybody. One good person and one good thing. Hearing aids! 1000 seniors marching into Congress. Coalitions around solutions not parties. There is no Democratic agenda. No plan. Get rid of partisanship. Healthcare is my bailiwick. Most are one medical urgency away from disaster. Work through HHS; more healthcare leaders. I’ve learned a lot about myself. I adore people. There’s something great in all of us. I love collecting stories. They’re awesome. A good day is learning and getting inspired. I hate two sides. I’m an Economic Populist. Improving economic realities for average Americans. More like the Old School Democrats. I pick a hard problem. Get a group of people together. Solve it. And do it again, In building healthcare companies I mobilized people and talent; removing road blocks with advisory councils for water, housing infrastructure. Get money out of politics. There should be term limits, no gerrymandering or stock trading by members. Data centers pay no taxes. Healthcare needs to get smart. Universal childcare should be mandatory. I’m not here to create political power. Whether it’s Trump, Thrump or Rump we need to stop political corruption. Not a single act of disobedience by the Dem Party? Why? Where’s its leadership? Need to stand up to power. Choosing not to stand up to big pharma, corporate industrial complex. Need to just say “No.” I grew up without much. Started working at 12. Education was my accelerator. Hard now to change the beast from within. Only 4% of the House is under 39. Who is representing young families? 30 years the same person. Ugh! People need to know who I am. We’ll hold 200 town halls. Knock on another 250,000 doors for half a million total. Making phone calls every day with dozens of volunteers. We intend to close the gap! We offered him 9 debates. He chose none. Not smart for him to have any. And the Dem establishment always endorses the incumbent. He got theirs before I entered the race. Real wages have not kept up with inflation. Real work needs to be done in healthcare costs and housing. A $10,000 tax refund is needed and federal taxes should begin at $150,000. Rents are higher than mortgages so 0% mortgages are needed for first time buyers. Gavin Newsom is not yet our Presidential candidate. There’s a large talented pool. We need to restore our democracy. Surely I’ll run again. One can certainly serve too long. I have pledged myself to a 12 year limit. I’ll be working back from day one to day zero. We don’t have 50 years to expect dramatic change. Need to be realistic. Need to really stand up to it and for it. Politics is not working. Too many left behind.”
So … enough campaign rhetoric. Take closer looks at both candidates. And please vote! Register if you haven’t. Post your mail-in ballot or for sure on November 3rd get to a polling location. I suggest going “Out For A Walk.”
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