From The Downballot:
Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa died unexpectedly [last] Tuesday at the age of 65, a development that both narrows the House GOP’s already slim majority and will set off a special election to succeed him.
LaMalfa, who Politico reports experienced an aneurysm and a heart attack, had no known serious health problems before his death. The congressman even told NOTUS last month that he would seek an eighth term in Northern California’s 1st Congressional District, which just became dramatically bluer following the state’s adoption of a new House map in November.
Despite the major changes made to his district, LaMalfa said the revamped map “makes me more invigorated to run” and was preparing for what would have been his first competitive race since he was first elected to Congress in 2012.
[…]
Following the most recent census, LaMalfa’s district remained safe for Republicans even after California’s redistricting commission redrew the lines to account for population shifts. But the congressman’s standing shifted abruptly after Gov. Gavin Newsom and fellow Democrats began plotting an unexpectedly potent response to the new gerrymander that Texas Republicans had drawn at Donald Trump’s insistence.
Lawmakers swiftly passed a new map, which voters approved in a 64-36 landslide last fall, that dramatically overhauled LaMalfa’s constituency. While LaMalfa had easily secured his most recent term as Trump was carrying his district 61-36, Kamala Harris would have won the new-look 1st District by a 54-42 spread.
Mapmakers accomplished this transformation by shifting conservative rural communities between Chico and Sacramento that had been in the 1st into neighboring Democratic districts. In exchange, LaMalfa’s district took in portions of two deep blue counties, Mendocino and Sonoma, that are located in the state’s wine country region north of San Francisco.
[…]
Because of LaMalfa’s death, though, a special election will take place first, as required by the Constitution. Newsom has 14 days to schedule the contest, which must then be held between 126 and 140 days later. That would put the election sometime between mid-May and early June, with a primary nine weeks earlier.
Ordinarily, special elections that take place after redistricting but before the next general election use old district lines—but not always. A 2022 special election for Nebraska’s 1st District was held using the state’s new map that had been adopted the previous year, a move that did not face a legal challenge.
One legal commentator, Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern, argued that Newsom should nonetheless order that the new boundaries be deployed.
“It’s the map adopted by the people of California, and on top of being democratically defensible, it’s the kind of hardball that [Ron] DeSantis or [Greg] Abbott would obviously pull in the converse scenario,” he wrote on social media, referring to the Republican governors of Florida and Texas.
My sincere condolences to Rep. LaMalfa’s family and friends. May he rest in peace.
The effect of Rep. LaMalfa’s death plus the resignation of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, means that the Republicans now have 218 members in Congress, the smallest possible number for a majority. They also now have another member in the hospital following a car crash, and they can hardly count on the vote of Rep. Thomas Massie, one of the leaders of the push to release the Epstein files. I’d say “poor Mike Johnson”, but we’d all know I don’t mean it.
I have no idea if Gavin Newsom will go all out and say that the special election will use the new map instead of the current one. There is precedent for it, as noted, though as pointed out in the post Mark Joseph Stern was replying to, it didn’t involve a party flip. Taking this action would of course result in a lawsuit, which would surely make its way to SCOTUS, and I’m sure they’ll find some way to rule in the Republicans’ favor. I don’t think there’s any doubt about what Abbott would do in the same position. He could have scheduled the CD18 special election in May if he had really wanted to. I’m not sure I endorse this approach, but I’m happy to bandy it about. Let the rationalizing begin! Daily Kos has more.
I did a search for the Proposition 50 ballot language (see below), showing what was before the eyes of voters. It does not indicate an effective date, as in month, day, year. Interestingly, the New York Times published a detailed article in December 2025 about Representative LaMalfa and the current district. It’s worth a read in terms of broadening one’s perspectives on that region of California
Ballot language of State Measure 50; voters are given a YES or NO choice:
AUTHORIZES TEMPORARY CHANGES
TO CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT MAPS
IN RESPONSE TO TEXAS’ PARTISAN
REDISTRICTING. LEGISLATIVE
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
Requires temporary use of new congressional
district maps through 2030. Directs independent
Citizens Redistricting Commission to resume
enacting congressional district maps in 2031.
Establishes policy supporting nonpartisan
redistricting commissions nationwide. Fiscal
Impact: one-time cost to counties of up to a
few million dollars statewide to update election
materials to reflect new congressional district
maps.