Death imperils GOP majority

Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California dies at 65. Republican margin narrows in the House.

- BY HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS, DAKOTA SMITH, MICHAEL WILNER AND JESSICA GARRISON

U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Republican who represented a vast swath of rural Northern California, died while undergoing emergency surgery Monday evening, authorities said. He was 65.

The fourth-generation rice farmer from Richvale, a town of about 300 people west of Oroville, held his seat for 13 years. LaMalfa easily won reelection year after year — in 2024, he beat his Democratic opponent by 30 percentage points — but his was one of several Republican-held seats imperiled this fall when voters passed Proposition 50, which redraws the state’s congressional districts.

LaMalfa’s 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.

“Doug was a devoted husband, a dedicated father to four beautiful children, and a newfound grandfather,” Republican Rep. Ken Calvert, who represents the Inland Empire, said in a statement. “Throughout his political career, Doug was a longtime Reagan conservative who believed in limited government, low taxes and traditional values.”

Emergency personnel responded to a 911 call from LaMalfa’s residence at 6:50 p.m. Monday, according to the Butte County Sheriff's Office. The congressman was taken to the Enloe Medical Center in Chico, where he died while undergoing emergency surgery, authorities said.

An autopsy to determine the cause of death is planned, according to the Sheriff's Office.

LaMalfa’s district which stretches from the northern outskirts of Sacramento through Redding to the Oregon border and to Alturas in the state’s northeast corner is largely rural, and far more conservative than California as a whole.

Residents have long said they felt underrepresented in the halls of power in Sacramento and Washington and have, for nearly a century, talked seriously about seceding to form their own state called Jefferson.