# Bennie Thompson Democratic U.S. Representative for Mississippi's 2nd district, covering the Delta and most of Jackson, since 1993. He is the only Democrat in Mississippi's congressional delegation. From 2021 to 2023 he chaired the [[House Select Committee on the January 6th Attack]], whose investigation produced the definitive public record of the effort to overturn the 2020 election. ## Background Born January 28, 1948, in Bolton, Mississippi, Thompson worked as a schoolteacher, then served as a Bolton alderman (1969–1973), mayor of Bolton (1973–1980) and a Hinds County supervisor (1980–1993). He won a 1993 special election for the House seat left open when Mike Espy became Agriculture Secretary. ## Homeland Security Thompson has led Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee for most of its existence. He chaired it from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023, and has been ranking member since 2023. That role is why he was the Democrat who negotiated the January 6 commission with Republican [[John Katko]] in May 2021. The House passed it 252–175 and Senate Republicans killed it by filibuster on May 28, 2021. The select committee he then chaired was the fallback. ## The lawsuit and the committee On February 16, 2021, the [[NAACP]] filed a federal suit on Thompson's behalf against [[Donald Trump]], [[Rudy Giuliani]], the [[Proud Boys]] and the [[Oath Keepers]]. It alleged a conspiracy to stop Congress from certifying the election, in violation of the [[Ku Klux Klan Act]]. The choice of statute was deliberate: a Reconstruction-era law written to protect officials from intimidation was turned against an attack on the electoral count. As chair, working alongside vice chair [[Liz Cheney]], he held the gavel through the summer 2022 hearings and the December 19, 2022 criminal referrals of Trump. On January 20, 2025, [[Joe Biden]] preemptively pardoned him along with every other member and the staff. ## 2026 At 78 and seeking an 18th term, Thompson won the March 10, 2026 Democratic primary with about 86% against Evan Turnage, 34, a former counsel to Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren. The general election is November 3, 2026. ## KB significance Thompson connects two institutions the right has spent years attacking: the civil-rights legal tradition (the Klan Act suit) and the congressional investigative power (the committee). Both have since been turned around against him and his witnesses: the committee is now under counter-investigation, and its star witness is before a grand jury. See [[House Select Committee on the January 6th Attack]]. ## Related - [[House Select Committee on the January 6th Attack]] - [[Liz Cheney]] · [[John Katko]] - [[Ku Klux Klan Act]] - [[January 6 Capitol Attack]]