Mike Ross

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Mike Ross

United States Representative from Arkansas's 4th district
In office 2001 - present
Preceded by	Jay Dickey
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	September 1, 1961 Texarkana, Arkansas
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Holly Ross
Religion	Methodist

Michael Avery "Mike" Ross (born September 1, 1961), American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2001, representing the 4th District of Arkansas (map). In the 2000 election, he was the only Democrat outside of California to defeat a Republican incumbent. In the 2004 election, the Republican Party did not run a challenger against him. He was born in Texarkana, Arkansas, was educated at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and was a businessman and state senator before entering the House.

Mike Ross is considered to be a Blue Dog Democrat. He considers himself a social moderate and fiscal conservative who believes that balancing the budget is a high priority. Ross supports stem cell research but opposes abortion. He also is against gun control. Ross is popular among seniors, as he is in favor of expanding Medicare and easing access to cheap health care. He also is a proponent of labor unions and small business, and he opposes tax breaks for big corporations and free trade agreements.

Ross picked up an easy victory in the 2006 election, defeating the smiliarly named Republican, real estate executive Joe Ross, 75%-25%.

Ross considered running for the position of Democratic Caucus Vice chairman for the 110th congress; however, he deferred to incumbent John Larson after Rahm Emanuel chose to run for caucus chair which is the position Larson had been running for.^[1].