{"id":473,"date":"2026-06-03T17:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T17:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=473"},"modified":"2026-06-03T17:32:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T17:32:27","slug":"a-republican-victory-in-northern-california-wont-be-the-same-fight-this-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=473","title":{"rendered":"A Republican victory in Northern California won’t be the same fight this fall"},"content":{"rendered":"
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James Gallagher, the Republican state assemblymember from Yuba City, won Tuesday\u2019s special election for California\u2019s District 1, a conservative stronghold, with a majority vote and will soon join Congress, filling the seat left vacant when Rep. Doug LaMalfa died earlier this year. Gallagher will serve the remainder of LaMalfa\u2019s term \u2014 but he won\u2019t have much time to settle in before he has to defend his seat this fall.\u00a0<\/p>

Read more Calif. Democrat calls Tuesday\u2019s primary results \u2018generational change\u2019<\/a><\/p><\/div>

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Tuesday\u2019s victory means Gallagher will be the incumbent in November\u2019s election for the U.S. House of Representatives in California\u2019s District 1. He will be running against Mike McGuire, the Democrat from Healdsburg in Sonoma County.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

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\u201cUnite the north. And that\u2019s been our slogan this whole time,\u201d Gallagher said at an election party on Tuesday night, in a video posted to his Instagram stories. \u201c… Just to bring everybody together, all the communities seen from\u00a0Marysville and Yuba City all the way to Tule Lake … all these small towns, Orland to Oroville, right.\u00a0We wanted to make sure we brought everybody together in this fight.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

November\u2019s election, however, will be an entirely different challenge for Republicans, thanks to a redistricting effort across California that gives Democrats an advantage. The special election to fill the vacant seat in Congress was held in the old District 1, which encompassed the far northeastern corner of the state and had given Republicans a solid and comfortable majority during LaMalfa\u2019s 13-year run in Congress. In 2024, LaMalfa defeated the Democratic candidate with around 65% of the vote.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

But this fall, California\u2019s newly drawn boundaries will be in place: District 1 now cuts a jagged swath across Northern California, from Lassen, Plumas and Sierra counties on the eastern edge of the state all the way to Wine Country and parts of Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma counties. Democrats have a 12-point lead in the new District 1, based on 2024 election results.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

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The two elections \u2014 one for the primary and one for the special election, both held on Tuesday \u2014 and the mixed-up boundary lines between the old and new versions of District 1 made this race especially confusing. Despite the Democrat\u2019s redistricting advantage, Gallagher still took the lead in the primary election, but he had a narrower margin than the one in the special election. As of Tuesday morning, Gallagher had a roughly 10-point lead over McGuire in the\u00a0primary. But in the special election to fill the vacant congressional seat \u2014 which included the conservative Modoc County but not the liberal-leaning Wine Country \u2014 Gallagher took 62.6% of the vote compared with McGuire\u2019s 17.6%.\u00a0<\/p>

Read more Nail-biter in redrawn California district as Democrats could be shut out<\/a><\/p><\/div>

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