medical emergency<\/a>, is survived by his wife, four children and a grandchild. He was a seven-term congressman and a rice farmer.\u00a0<\/p>\nDemocratic Congressman John Garamendi, who represents neighboring parts of Northern California, said LaMalfa was a close collaborator on Sacramento Valley issues despite their political differences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had policy disagreements, but we never had personal disagreements,\u201d Garamendi said. \u201cHe was just good at what he was doing and representing the agriculture as well as some of the greatest areas of California.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A special election will be held to fill the remainder of LaMalfa\u2019s term. Governor Gavin Newsom has two weeks to set a date for the election.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But candidates will also compete in separate elections this year under newly redrawn maps that favor Democrats. Those were approved by California voters last fall under Prop 50.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Paul Mitchell is a Sacramento-based redistricting expert who helped Democrats draw those maps. He said the special election will likely be held in June during primaries and use current district lines, not the new ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be seeing the Prop 50 lines take effect for the full term for the 2026 election, but any election between now and then would be done under the old lines to respect the will of the voters in the old district boundaries as they were from the 2024 election,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mitchell said Republicans still hold a strong advantage under the current map and are expected to win the special election.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The timing is critical for House Republicans, who Mitchell said have already lost two members within a week and currently hold just a two-vote majority.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a weird way, you could potentially see Democrats gain the majority through retirements before the 2026 election even comes to fruition,\u201d Mitchell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He added that a runoff election would be the worst-case scenario for GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson, keeping the seat vacant \u2014 and Republicans short a vote \u2014 for longer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the new district lines favor Democrats. Rob Stutzman, a Republican political consultant, said LaMalfa\u2019s death also means the district loses representation sooner than expected.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOf all the districts that were gerrymandered by the Democrats and Prop 50 to make sure that they could take a seat from the Republicans, the top of that list is this LaMalfa Northern California district,\u201d Stutzman added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Democratic State Senator Mike McGuire has announced he\u2019s running in\u00a0 the midterm election, which will be conducted under the new maps and now includes McGuire\u2019s political base near Santa Rosa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stutzman explained what\u2019s at stake for residents in the rural North State.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo State Senator McGuire, who represents the coast, will be running in this seat that also incorporates the far reaches of North Eastern California, which is very rural, very different than those that live on the coast,\u201d he said. \u201cSo there\u2019s a really sense of disenfranchisement by the people that live up north that they\u2019re going to be represented by someone they consider to be unaware of their way of life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
California Farm Bureau President Shannon Douglass worked closely with LaMalfa and said the redrawn district could further dilute farmers\u2019 influence in Congress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have times when our rural issues maybe don\u2019t align with the more urban issues, those are going to win out when we have an elected member who really is beholden to the urban members,\u201d Douglass said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She added that California is losing four farms a day, largely because of regulatory challenges and a loss of markets, which makes representation in Congress increasingly important for rural communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really tough to be a farmer in California and I certainly hope that we have members who we can have conversations with and who are going to help us find some solutions to make life better, not only as California farmers but as Californians, frankly,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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