[3] Thompson won the special by-election to succeed her husband in the Saint John constituency on Thursday, 20 January 2011, holding the seat for the Democratic Labour Party.
[5] Her father, Henry Giraudy Q.C., was a prominent Saint Lucian lawyer and politician,[5] who was nicknamed "The Chairman" due to his high position within the United Workers Party (UWP).
[5] David Thompson, the Chairman of the Democratic Labour Party, became the Prime Minister of Barbados on 16 January 2008, after winning the 2008 Barbadian general election, succeeding Owen Arthur.
[6] In early January 2011, Mara Thompson confirmed her intent to contest the special election called to fill the seat of her late husband in the Saint John constituency.
[7] David Thompson had held since the Saint John seat from 1987 to 2010, succeeding the late Prime Minister Errol Barrow, who also died in office.
[7] Owen Arthur, the former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition and Barbados Labour Party attempted to make Thompson's Saint Lucian origins an issue in the election.