A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, he represented District 58, which included portions of Dakota and Goodhue counties in the southern Twin Cities metropolitan area.

After spending his early years in Little Falls, Thompson moved with his mother and sister to East Grand Forks.

[4] He also authored the accompanying blog "And Another Thing",[5] and was a regular participant in the debate segment known as "Face Off" on KSTP-TV's Emmy-winning news program "At Issue with Tom Hauser".

[citation needed] The content was mostly political, but Thompson occasionally discussed sports, culture and other lighter topics, and allowed callers to become a part of the show.

[6] He subsequently received the GOP endorsement[7] and won the November general election with 63.05% of the vote, to DFL challenger Steve Quist's 36.84%.