FILE – President Joe Biden, left, greets Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., after delivering the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, March 7, 2024, in Washington. (Shawn Thew/Pool via AP, FIle)
The death of Doug LaMalfa, a seven-term Republican congressmember from Northern California, was announced Tuesday, hours after he was rushed to a Chico hospital.
The sheriff’s office in Butte County said it received a 911 call reporting a medical emergency at LaMalfa’s home around 6:50 p.m. Monday, Jan. 5.
The 65-year-old congressman was taken to Enloe Hospital, in Chico, and immediately underwent emergency surgery. He died during the surgery, the sheriff’s office reported.
The report did not specify the location of the home, but LaMalfa had resided at his family’s rice farm near Richvale, an agricultural community just west of Oroville.
He is survived by his wife, Jill, and their children, Kyle, Allison, Sophia and Natalie.
A cause of death will be determined by a coroner’s investigation, the office said.
Politico cited congressional colleagues who did not wish to be named as saying LaMalfa suffered an aneurysm — a bulging of an arterial wall — and then a heart attack.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has a 14-day window in which to call a special election to fill the remainder of LaMalfa’s term.
LaMalfa’s District 1 was among those remapped by Prop. 50 to favor Democratic candidates, but even if the special election were scheduled to coincide with the June primary, it would use the pre-Prop. 50 district boundary.
Before his death, five Democrats had declared their candidacy for the 2026 election, including state Sen. Mike McGuire, labor attorney Kyle Wilson, and Audrey Denney, who was the top Democratic contender for the seat in 2018 and 2020.
With LaMalfa’s death, the Republicans’ control of the House of Representatives is narrowed to 218 seats to the Democrats’ 213.
Three other members of the Congress elected in 2024 have also died:
Sylvester Turner, 70, D-Texas, died March 4. He had been treated for cancer diagnosed in 2022 and had “enduring health problems,” his family said, but his death was unexpected. A runoff election between two Democrats in the contest to fill his seat is set for Jan. 31.
Raúl Grijalva, 77, D-Arizona, died March 13 after a diagnosis of lung cancer. He was succeeded by his daughter Adelita Grijalva, also a Democrat, who won an election Sept. 23 and was sworn in on Nov. 12.
Gerry Connolly, 75, D-Virginia, died May 21. He had announced in April that he would retire at the end of his term because of cancer that had been diagnosed in 2024. His former chief of staff, James Walkinshaw, also a Democrat, won a special election in September to succeed him.
Originally published at Bay Area News Group