Biography of Congressman Mike Ross

Mike Ross, of Prescott, was first elected to the United States Congress in 2000 and is currently serving his fourth term.

Mike has been appointed to the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the House Committee on Science and Technology.  Ross was also appointed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Parliamentary Assembly (NATO-PA), where he represents the United States at meetings of the 26 NATO-member countries.

Mike is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally conservative Democratic House Members, and has been elected by his colleagues to serve as Co-Chair for Communications. 

A fifth-generation Arkansan, Mike was born in Texarkana, Arkansas.  He is the son of public school educators and is married to the former Holly Hempen of Texarkana.  They have two children, Sydney and Alex.  Mike and Holly are active members of the First United Methodist Church in Prescott.

In 1990, Mike was elected, at age 29, as the youngest member of the Arkansas State Senate, where he served for ten years.  In 2005, Mike was named Citizen of the Year in his hometown by the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce.  That same year, he also received the Distinguished Citizen Award from the DeSoto Area Council Boy Scouts of America.

Mike is a graduate of Hope High School in Hope, Arkansas, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  He worked his way through college as a radio announcer.  He is also a former member of the Nevada County Quorum Court.

Click here to download a high resolution official photograph of Mike