Political newcomer Eric Jones has defeated longtime Democratic incumbent Mike Thompson in the intraparty race to represent Northern California’s 4th Congressional District.

The Associated Press called the race on Friday, after Jones held a narrow lead over Thompson for more than a week. He was ahead by roughly 5 percentage points with 95% of the votes counted, according to the AP.

“It wasn’t a partisan mandate,” Jones told KQED. “It was really just, ‘Government is not working for us. It’s too corrupt, it’s bought out.’”

Jones, who is already in Washington, D.C., for the freshman congressional orientation, laid out his day one priorities.

“We’re already talking about the things that we’re going to focus on together,” he said. “You’ll see a lot of focus out the gate on corruption. That’s corporate money, that’s stock trading. I think you’re going to see a lot of movement out the gate on healthcare and really making sure that the [H.R. 1 Medicaid] cuts we saw do not become permanent realities for our country.”

Jones, a former venture capitalist, delivered Thompson the most serious and expensive challenge of his 14-term career in Congress. In the primary, Jones narrowly squeezed into second place, then erased a nearly 19-point gap by the general election.

Mike Thompson, incumbent candidate for California’s 4th Congressional District, gives a speech at an election watch party at the Garden by Tannery Bend Beerworks in Napa on Nov. 3, 2026. (Gina Castro/KQED)

“This country is ready for a new generation of leadership; it’s ready for a new way of doing politics,” Jones told reporters on Election Day at a campaign event packed with high-energy young people and college students at Sudwerk Brewing in Davis.

“We have not had a political leadership that we can be proud of in this country,” he said. “So it’s time to get that back.”

Attendees of the campaign event who spoke to KQED included Democratic socialists, Democrats, Republicans and independent voters. Many of them said they see Jones as a voice for change.

“He’s relatable; he came from nothing, went to college. He’s a role model for my daughter,” said Wendell Coleman, 50, an independent voter from Napa who used to vote for Thompson “religiously” until this year.

“We need a fresh, new voice,” Coleman said. “We need someone that is self-made that can’t be bought because he already has enough.”

The newly redrawn 4th District stretches from the Napa Valley to the Sacramento suburbs and rural areas in the north. The two Democrats do not diverge significantly on policy, so the race was defined by money, identity and blistering attack ads.

Jones injected $14.8 million of his own money into the race, setting a record for the most self-funding by a congressional candidate in California history, according to David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University.

Thompson raised about $5.5 million, none of it his own money.

From the beginning, Jones pledged not to accept any corporate PAC money, presenting himself as a candidate not beholden to special interests. Thompson, meanwhile, painted Jones as an outsider trying to buy the seat.

Thompson, 75, is a moderate Democrat backed by establishment figures like Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Vietnam War veteran grew up and still lives in St. Helena. He’s also a senior member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

Jones, 35, grew up in a working-class Maine family. At times, his family relied on Medicaid, food stamps and his father’s veterans disability checks. Jones moved to Napa in 2021 with his wife after their son was born with a serious heart defect, seeking a slower, quieter life within driving distance of their son’s doctors at UCSF.

Thompson did not sail through the election with his typical ease. He usually wins close to two-thirds of the vote in the general election. But nearly half of District 4 is new territory after Democrats redrew California’s congressional maps last year. The new lines added conservative parts of the North State once represented by the late Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa. It also cut out bluer regions in Sonoma and Lake counties.

That shift gave Jones an opening. He attempted to carve out support to the left and right of Thompson. He had the endorsement of Our Revolution, the progressive group founded by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. And after the primary, he ramped up his outreach to Republicans, hiring GOP strategist Rob Stutzman and winning the endorsement of Ray Riehle, the Republican he narrowly defeated in the primary.

Eric Jones, Democratic candidate for California’s 4th Congressional District, speaks to a supporter at Three Mile Brewing for his watch party in Davis on June 2, 2026. (Gina Castro for KQED)

His strategy paid off: Jones’ biggest margins were in those new, conservative counties: Yuba, Sutter, Sacramento, Placer and Colusa.

At a campaign event in Napa County before the polls closed, Thompson expressed confidence in an interview with KQED about his outreach to new voters, saying he has “approached this redistricting the same way I’ve approached every redistricting I’ve been in.”

“There are 47% of voters who are new,” he said. “I’ve got out, I’ve met folks, I think I’ve been a hundred times up in the new district, I’ve had a couple hundred meetings. And I’ve been called on to help with the peach farmer disaster. I was able to get them $9 million of aid.”

Thompson turned 75 this year, amid a national conversation about older elected officials clinging to their seats. But when asked if he would potentially announce an upcoming retirement date were he to win, the 14-term congressman bristled and said, “Why would you ask me that question?”

Less than two weeks before election day, Jones’ campaign released an ad featuring Thompson’s former communications director T.J. Adams-Falconer, who said, “Mike Thompson told me directly he plans to die in office.”

Adams-Falconer worked for the congressman for under six months nearly a decade ago, according to Thompson, who called the claim “fictional.”

Seven former staff members to Thompson also released a letter calling the claim “unsubstantiated” and demanded the campaign take down the ad because it used a photograph of them without their permission.

A sign for Mike Thompson, incumbent candidate for California’s 4th Congressional District, rests on a chair at an election watch party at the Garden by Tannery Bend Beerworks in Napa on Nov. 3, 2026. (Gina Castro/KQED)

The dispute captured a defining issue of the race. Amid a wave of anti-establishment sentiment and desire for generational change, young challengers like Jones across the country have taken on their party’s aging incumbents. Nationally, 13 members of Congress lost their primaries, including seven Democrats and six Republicans.

“Politics is a competition, and there’s a level of respect that goes beyond what you see on a TV ad that I wish that voters could understand,” Jones said on Friday evening after the race was called. “I am very excited to work with Thompson in any way I can to do what’s right for the district.”

Jones’ victory, according to McCuan, is “dramatic in terms of a statement about generational change” given Thompson’s national stature and role in Democratic leadership. Jones could face a chilly reception from fellow Democrats in the House.

“They’re going to want to penalize him a little bit for taking on a popular incumbent and winning,” he said.

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