Thompson is the representative for Mississippi’s 2nd congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Apr 13, 1993. Thompson is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
![Photo of Rep. Bennie Thompson [D-MS2]](/static/legislator-photos/400402-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Thompson is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Thompson has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to May 16, 2022. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Bennie Thompson sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Thompson was the primary sponsor of 15 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 490: DHS MORALE Act
- H.R. 8993 (116th): Department of Homeland Security Intelligence and Cybersecurity Diversity Fellowship Program Act
- H.R. 2476 (116th): Securing American Nonprofit Organizations Against Terrorism Act of 2019
- H.R. 3500 (116th): Federal Advance Contracts Enhancement Act
- H.R. 251 (116th): Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program Extension Act
- H.R. 1204 (113th): Aviation Security Stakeholder Participation Act of 2014
- H.R. 2898 (113th): Division Realignment Act of 2013
Does 15 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Thompson sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (28%) Emergency Management (25%) Transportation and Public Works (22%) Science, Technology, Communications (6%) Immigration (6%) Education (6%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Thompson recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 7778: To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to prohibit misuse of the …
- H.R. 7668: FEMA Equity Act
- H.Res. 1037: Recommending that the House of Representatives find Peter K. Navarro and Daniel Scavino, …
- H.R. 6825: Nonprofit Security Grant Program Improvement Act of 2022
- H.Res. 851: Recommending that the House of Representatives find Mark Randall Meadows in contempt of …
- H.Res. 780: Recognizing the service and sacrifices of the Transportation Security Administration’s employees and officers …
- H.Res. 730: Recommending that the House of Representatives find Stephen K. Bannon in contempt of …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Apr 1993 to May 2022, Thompson missed 745 of 18,644 roll call votes, which is 4.0%. This is worse than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
