photo credit: Mike McGuire for Congress/Assembly member James Gallagher 
State Senator Mike McGuire (left) and State Assembly member James Gallagher (right)

Continuing our coverage of the upcoming June primary election is the race for California's 1st Congressional District.

The contest is a bit confusing, but what is clear, the district will have a new representative.

The June 2nd primary for the 1st District has been complicated by the death of Representative Doug LaMalfa, and like so many other races for Congress in California, Prop 50 has totally reshaped the largely rural and conservative district covering the northeastern interior of the state.

The redrawn Congressional seat spans nine counties. It stretches from Sebastopol and up the Highway 101 corridor through Sonoma and Mendocino counties in the west, cutting across northern swathes of the Central Valley into Northern Sierra, through Lake, Glenn, Tehama, Butte, Plumas, and Sierra counties, stuffing Santa Rosa and Chico together in a new district, with Susanville in Lassen County and the Nevada border in the east.

James Gallagher is a farmer, lawyer, and leader of the Republican caucus in California's lower house, the State Assembly.

He's the leading Republican candidate for the newly drawn District 1, and has made a name for himself as a strong critic of California's Democratic Party leadership, and touts support from President Donald Trump.

Gallagher was close with the late Representative Doug LaMalfa, calling him a mentor in his own political life, and said his loss has been felt across the district.

"If you know, Doug, he's he was very tall, he had a big presence, you know, but he was a very genuine presence like in all of our communities and really, I think, exemplified a lot of these small rural communities that run throughout the North State," Gallagher said. "[He] would take those issues back to Washington and really work on them, and it was really a very effective representative for us."

Gallagher said he felt called to pick up the mantle after LaMalfa's passing, and has been endorsed by the late representative's widow Jill LaMalfa.

Because of LaMalfa's death and the Proposition 50 redistricting - a clear partisan gerrymander as Gallagher sees it - he is contesting two elections on two different maps in the June 2nd primary.

One is a special election to fill the vacant 1st district seat for the remainder of the Congressional term. Gallagher is up against Democrats Mike McGuire and Audrey Denney, Republican Jot Thiara, and independent candidate Richard Montgomery in the special election.

That race covers the old district 1 map, and a voter terrain that leans heavily Republican. A 50%+1 victory for any of the candidates in the special primary would send them to Congress right away, avoiding a special general election on August 4th.

"I think we will do very well in this special election," Gallagher said. "You know, Doug LaMalfa won that in this district by 65% of the vote, and so my goal is to really rally everybody and hopefully even get a number as high as him."

The other election Gallagher is contesting is the primary for the new 1st District seat, which includes parts of Sonoma County. Gallagher has emerged as one of the top three contenders for the seat along with Democrats Mike McGuire and Audrey Denney.

Despite the shifting electoral landscapes, Gallagher sees lots of concerns uniting the old and new districts. "As I've gotten out there and as I've been talking to people, you know, especially by California government, they feel ignored, but it's also by the federal government," Gallagher said.

Gallagher cites rising fuel and energy costs and diesel truck phase outs as particular problems, and he said also focused on water issues.

"I think what we're trying to do here is help ensure that there's an abundance of water supply for all of our needs," Gallagher said. "I think it's a backwards policy that says let's tear down dams and decrease your water supply. And I think that's an example of Potter Valley where we're essentially just allowing PG&E to go along and decommission a dam."

Despite his criticisms of Democratic leadership in California, Gallagher said he's not afraid to work across the aisle when he can.

"Last year, I joined up with with a Democrat, Jesse Gabriel from Los Angeles to ban ultra processed food in our school lunch program, and I did that looking at my district and saying, 'man, our kids aren't getting healthy food at school,'" Gallagher said. "That's a problem, and meanwhile, we have farmers all throughout this district, man, who grow the most nutritious, wholesome food. Let's get that into the schools...like there's a win-win where we can partner and do good things on that. I partnered up with Buffy Wicks, you know, from from Berkeley, right? [A] Democrat to pass legislation help us build more housing to streamline CEQA, and some of these bureaucratic rules that stop good housing projects moving forward. I mean, if you look at my record I'm somebody who tries to solve problems."

Gallagher, who's floated bills to split inland and coastal California into separate states, says that's in part to draw focus to issues in California he feels are often ignored - like wolf predation in the Sierras.

"I think whoever's going to represent this district really has to be a champion of rural people who feel who feel overlooked," Gallagher said.

Gallagher's chief opponent in the race - especially for the new 1st district seat - is State Senator and Sonoma County Democrat Mike McGuire.

McGuire, who was previously leader of the state senate, has pushed hard to expand the ranks and resources of Cal Fire, and increase rural healthcare funding.

McGuire says in Congress he'd support Medicare for All, a repeal of major tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and President Trump's tariffs, and the overturning of Citizens United.

McGuire says he'd also support term limits for Supreme Court judges, access to abortion, expanded broadband access and clean energy projects, and legislation to hold ICE officers liable for violating constitutional rights.