US Rep Doug LaMalfa dies, further narrowing Republican majority

By Nolan D. McCaskill

WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) – Republican Representative Doug LaMalfa of California has died, a fellow lawmaker said on Tuesday, further shrinking Republicans’ narrow majority in the House of Representatives ahead of November elections that will determine control of Congress. 

“Doug was a principled conservative and a tireless advocate for the people of Northern California,” said Representative Richard Hudson of North Carolina, who chairs House Republicans’ campaign arm.

LaMalfa’s sudden death at age 65 shrinks House Republicans’ majority to 218-213, following the resignation of Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday. Democrats will gain another member after a Jan. 31 runoff to replace the late Representative Sylvester Turner of Texas. 

LaMalfa was first elected to his rural Northern California seat in 2012 and easily won re-election after that. But California Democrats redrew his district last year into territory that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris would have won by 10 points in 2024, a response to Republican redistricting efforts in other states. President Donald Trump won LaMalfa’s original district by 25 points in 2024.

House Democrats acknowledged LaMalfa’s passing and held a moment of silence at an unofficial hearing on the fifth anniversary of the January 6, 2021, riot on Tuesday morning inside the Capitol. 

(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; editing by Andy Sullivan and Nick Zieminski)