Mike Thompson

Eric Jones, who has spent $5 million in a bid to unseat 14-term incumbent Rep. Mike Thompson in California’s 4th Congressional District, found himself in a dogfight as the first wave of ballots were counted in Tuesday night’s California primary election.

But not with Thompson, who sprinted to a sizable lead with 39.2% of the vote a reconfigured district that now includes all or parts of nine counties. Instead, Jones was narrowly trailing Republican candidate Ray Riehle, who lives in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights.

As of 8:50 p.m., Riehle was clocking 22.8% of the vote, while Jones was at 21.3%, according to the California Secretary of State’s website.

Election 2026: Find more North Bay race results here.

Riehle has a varied background that included stints on the Citrus Heights Chamber of Commerce board of directors (he’s a current member of that board), the Citrus Heights Water District board of directors and a bond oversight committee for the San Juan Unified School District.

Though the gap was modest, and smaller than the first batch of ballots indicated, the placement could wind up being significant. Only the top two finishers in California’s jungle-style primary, regardless of party representation, will advance to the November general election.

Jones’ team said it was too early for the numbers to be meaningful, and they weren’t prepared to offer a statement until more votes are counted.

There are five other Republicans and one unaligned candidate in the 4th District race, but none of them garnered more than 5.1% of early returns.

This is Jones’ initial foray into politics. But a sizable war chest of more than $8 million — including more than $5 million of his own money — helped make the former venture capitalist a credible political threat to Thompson, who is seeking his 15th consecutive term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

But judging by the early returns, likely made up primarily of mail-in ballots, the veteran lawmaker has staying power. Reached at his home in Washington, D.C., where he was preparing for legislative business this week, Thompson said, “We know it’s early, so whatever you’re seeing now is probably skewed. It’ll probably be a while before we get numbers that mean anything to anybody.”

Thompson thanked the “hundreds of volunteers” who have been handling his canvassing throughout the district.

“And I’ve been out walking precincts myself,” he said. “I was in Rohnert Park, Sonoma, Napa, Davis and Woodland this week. The support was overwhelming.

“People are appreciative of the work I’ve done. They’re appreciative that I was born, raised and still live in St. Helena.”

Jones and his wife, Rachel, cast their ballots in downtown Napa — where they live with their two young children — early Tuesday morning. The candidate finished his day hosting an election night party at Three Mile Brewing Co. in Davis.

District 4 is considered reliably blue, but less so than before last year’s passage of Proposition 50, which redrew a number of districts in an effort to give Democrats up to five additional House seats. D4 now includes all of Napa, Yolo, Colusa, Yuba and Sutter counties, and parts of Sonoma, Lake, Sacramento and Placer.

The district’s heaviest concentrations of population are in Sonoma, Napa and Yolo counties, all of which lean heavily Democratic.

If Jones were to overtake Riehl, he would extend a race against Thompson that has become increasingly contentious.

In November, U.S. Capitol police investigated Jones’ campaign for surveilling Thompson’s home after a 19-year-old volunteer had parked for hours at the congressman’s residence in St. Helena. Last month, Jones accused Thompson’s campaign of secretly recording a meet-and-greet in Davis that the hosts considered a private event.

And as recently as Sunday, the Davis Vanguard chided the Jones team for airing a TV ad insinuating the nonprofit news organization had endorsed the challenger; the message quoted in the commercial had, in fact, come from a guest editorial. Thompson’s campaign team was quick to pounce on the misstep.

Recent weeks have delivered a slew of campaign mailers, online ads and TV commercials to registered voters in the sprawling district.

Thompson has rarely faced serious opposition during his 28 years in Congress, and certainly not from another Democrat.

Jones is attempting to buck that trend by flanking Thompson from the left. His progressive platform includes support for a universal healthcare system and assistance for families with childcare needs, and a call for reductions in defense spending.

Jones has hammered Thompson for the donations he accepts from corporate political action committees. Thompson’s campaign has returned the disdain, calling Jones disingenuous for disavowing that sort of funding while a PAC established by the wife of his former boss at Dragnoneer Investment Group has paid for stinging attack ads aimed at the incumbent.

More fundamentally, Jones, 35, has attempted to position himself as a fresh political face who isn’t beholden to special interests and wealthy donors. The flipside is overcoming the suspicions of registered voters, especially those in the pre-Prop. 50 portions of the district, who see Jones as an outsider who doesn’t understand their needs. Thompson, 75, has built a loyal following over the years, especially in Napa and Sonoma.

Jones has embraced the challenger’s role. His campaign reported knocking on more than 250,000 doors across the district.

You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.