By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, US POLITICAL REPORTER
Published: | Updated:
California Republican Congressman Doug LaMalfa has suddenly passed away at the age of 65.
National Republican Campaign Committee Chairman Richard Hudson called LaMalfa’a principled conservative and a tireless advocate for the people of Northern California.’
‘He was never afraid to fight for rural communities, farmers, and working families. Doug brought grit, authenticity, and conviction to everything he did in public service,’ Hudson said in a statement on Tuesday.
House Republican Majority Whip Tom Emmer described LaMalfa as ‘a loving father and husband, and staunch advocate for his constituents and rural America.’
LaMalfa’s death imperils the Republican House majority, leaving Speaker Mike Johnsonwith just a three-vote margin after the formal resignation of Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene on Monday.
House makeup is presently 218 Republicans to 213 Democrats, leaving Republicans able to lose no more than two votes on any party-line measure, assuming full attendance and participation.
It was also revealed Tuesday that Indiana Republican Congressman Jim Baird, aged 80, has been hospitalized after a car accident.
Baird’s office said that the lawmaker is expected to make a full recovery after his car was struck. Donald Trump said Baird’s wife was also hospitalized but will be OK, during an address to Republicans at the Kennedy Center.
Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Oroville) answers a question during a town hall meeting on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Chico, California
Indiana State Rep. Jim Baird, Republican candidate for Indiana’s 4th Congressional District, speaks at a campaign rally featuring President Donald Trump in Indianapolis, Nov. 2, 2018
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson must now navigate the perils of an even slimmer GOP majority, and can not afford to lose more than two votes on party-line measures
Democrats are set to gain one additional vote in their caucus after a runoff election in Texas later this month to replace Congressman Sylvester Turner, who passed away last March, taking the Republican margin down to two votes.
Another special election will take place to replace former New Jersey Democratic Congresswoman Mikie Sherill in April after she was elected the state’s governor in November.
Trump paid tribute to LaMalfa during his address on Tuesday, noting that the lawmaker voted withhim ‘100 percent of the time.’
The President said that he ‘was thinking about not even doing the speech in [LaMalfa’s] honor, but then I decided that I have to do it in his honor. I’ll do it in his honor, because he would have wanted it that way.’
LaMalfa served as Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, and was a member of the Agriculture Committee.
Before his election to Congress in 2012, LaMalfa served in the California Senate and state assembly. He was also a fourth-generation rice farmer.
After the passage of California’s Prop 50 redistricting ballot measure last November, LaMalfa’s seat landed on the Democrat list of pickup targets in this year’s midterm election.
LaMalfa planned to run again for his seat, despite the new district lines.