had represented his Northern California district<\/a> for the past 12 years. His seat was one of several that was in jeopardy under the state\u2019s redrawn districts approved by voters with Proposition 50.<\/p>\nHis district \u2014 which stretches from the northern outskirts of Sacramento, through Redding at the northern end of the Central Valley and Alturas in the state\u2019s northeast corner \u2014 is largely rural, and constituents have long said they felt underrepresented in liberal California. <\/p>\n
LaMalfa put much of his focus on boosting federal water supplies to farmers, and seeking to reduce environmental restrictions on logging and extraction of other natural resources. <\/p>\n
One LaMalfa\u2019s final acts in the U.S. House was to successfully push for the reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools Act, a long-standing financial aid program for schools surrounded by untaxed federal forest land, whose budgets could not depend upon property taxes, as most public schools do. Despite broad bipartisan support, Congress let it lapse in 2023. <\/p>\n
In an interview with The Times as he was walking onto the House floor in mid-December, LaMalfa said he was frustrated with Congress\u2019s inability to pass even a popular bill like that reauthorization.<\/p>\n
The Secure Rural Schools Act, he said, was a victim of a Congress in which \u201cit\u2019s still an eternal fight over anything fiscal.\u201d It is \u201cannoying,\u201d LaMalfa said, \u201chow hard it is to get basic things done around here.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement posted on X, California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff said he considered LaMalfa \u201ca friend and partner\u201d and that the congressman was \u201cdeeply committed to his community and constituents, working to make life better for those he represented.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cDoug\u2019s life was one of great service and he will be deeply missed,\u201d Schiff wrote. <\/p>\n
Before his death, LaMalfa was facing a difficult reelection bid to hold his seat. After voters approved Proposition 50 in November \u2014 aimed at giving California Democrats more seats in Congress \u2014 LaMalfa was drawn into a new district that heavily favored his likely opponent, State Sen. Mike McGuire.<\/p>\n
LaMalfa\u2019s death puts the Republican majority in Congress in further jeopardy, with a margin of just two votes to secure passage of any bill along party lines after the resignation of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday evening.<\/p>\n
Adding to the party\u2019s troubles, Rep. Jim Baird, a Republican from Indiana, was hospitalized on Tuesday for a car crash described by the White House as serious. While Baird is said to be stable, the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson from Louisiana, will not be able to rely on his attendance. And he has one additional caucus member \u2013 Thomas Massie of Kentucky \u2013 who has made a habit of voting against the president, bringing their margin for error down effectively to zero.<\/p>\n
President Trump, addressing a gathering of GOP House members at the Kennedy Center, addressed the news at the start of his remarks, expressing \u201ctremendous sorrow at the loss of a great member\u201d and stating his speech would be made in LaMalfa\u2019s honor.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the leader of the Western caucus \u2013 a fierce champion on California water issues. He was great on water. \u2018Release the water!\u2019 he\u2019d scream out. And a true defender of American children.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, he voted with me 100% of the time,\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n
A native of Oroville, LaMalfa attended Butte College and then earned an ag-business degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He served in the California Assembly from 2002 to 2008 and the California State Senate from 2010 to 2012. Staunchly conservative, he was an early supporter of Proposition 209, which ended affirmative action in California, and he also pushed for passage of the Protection of Marriage Act, Proposition 22, which banned same-sex marriage in California.<\/p>\n
While representing California\u2019s 1st District, LaMalfa focused largely on issues affecting rural California and other western states. In 2025, Congressman he was elected as Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, which focuses on legislation affected rural areas. <\/p>\n
This story is developing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) has died, GOP leadership and President Trump confirmed Tuesday morning. \u201cJacquie and I…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":496920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,223433,167091,223434,223435,9224,223438,2961,224,5337,223436,223437,136207,101571,223440,129686,223439,9111,18913],"class_list":{"0":"post-496919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-congressman-doug-lamalfa","11":"tag-constituent","12":"tag-gop-leadership","13":"tag-house-majority-whip","14":"tag-husband","15":"tag-jill","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-loving-father","20":"tag-oroville","21":"tag-prop","22":"tag-redrawn-district","23":"tag-rep-tom-emmer","24":"tag-rural-america","25":"tag-staunch-advocate","26":"tag-voter","27":"tag-wife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115849207822512716","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}