Senate President pro Tem Mike McGuire, D-Santa Rosa, asks for a yes vote on one of the redistricting bills on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025 in Sacramento. McGuire on Friday said he will run in the special election to succeed Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who died Jan. 6.
HECTOR AMEZCUA
hamezcua@sacbee.com
SAN FRANCISCO
California state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, said Friday night that he will run in the special election to succeed U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who died unexpectedly last month.
“For too long, MAGA leaders have meant prices rising, hospitals closing, and communities hurting,” McGuire said on X Friday evening. “We’re going to change that — and flip this seat once and for all.”
The immediate past Senate president pro tem will face Assemblymember James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, who is backed by the LaMalfa family, and Democratic agricultural consultant Audrey Denney in the June 2 contest to represent the 1st Congressional District.
If needed, a runoff election will take place Aug. 4.
McGuire told reporters at the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco that he decided to run for the special election as well because “our country was hanging on by a thread.”
“What we need right now are rural representatives that are focused on the issues that working families care about. They care about having a good, rural job,” he said. “They care about sending their kids to good public schools. They want us to keep their hospitals open, to keep their health care intact, and they want a more affordable life.”
LaMalfa, a Republican, died Jan. 6 during emergency surgery. For over a decade, he had represented the ruby-red district that encompassed most of the north state reaching up to the Oregon border.
That district will shift starting with the November midterm elections after voters passed Proposition 50 last year. The ballot initiative championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom redrew all 52 state congressional districts to make them easier for Democrats to win and take back control of the House.
McGuire previously declared his intention to run for the 1st Congressional District in that race during the midterm election, which will take place Nov. 3.
Denney and Gallagher, McGuire’s opponents, both criticized the senator for electing to run in the special election, with the former calling him a “carpetbagger.”
“Senator McGuire’s decision to run in a district he doesn’t live in smacks of political opportunism, exploiting our rural communities for personal political gain,” said Alex Brown, Denney’s campaign manager. “Our communities deserve someone who sees this district as home, not as a headline.”
Gallagher said McGuire “rigged” the race after helping to pass Prop. 50.
“Welcome to the race for the real CD 1,” he said online. “I welcome the debate.”
LaMalfa, who was a staunch opponent of redistricting, said that under Prop. 50 his district would no longer represent rural interests as more liberal voters from the Bay Area with different priorities would be included.
Under state law, a successor must run to represent the original district boundaries when a congressional representative vacates office. That means whoever wins Aug. 4, likely a Republican, will probably serve only a few months before the district shifts to reflect a more liberal constituency.
This story was originally published February 21, 2026 at 9:12 AM.
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Lia Russell covers California’s governor for The Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Bureau. Originally from San Francisco, Lia previously worked for The Baltimore Sun and the Bangor Daily News in Maine.