Northern California MAGA Congressman Doug LaMalfa, who was all but certain to retire or just lose after Prop 50 blued up his district, has died suddenly at the age of 65, Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman reports on the reaper working against Mike Johnson after coming through for him thrice last year.
The House is now 218 Republican to 213 Democratic, soon to be 218 R – 215 D and it’s definitely worth questioning whether the GOP will be able to recruit a candidate to serve like what, six months at most, before the district gets nuked and if the seat might just flip D early anyway.
The upshot is that Dems taking the House before 2027 cannot be ruled out. The next special is in Texas on the 31st and that’s a guaranteed Dem hold. After that Mikie Sherrill’s seat, which brings it to 218 – 215 D/R. GA-14 is guaranteed red so then it’s 219 – 215. Flipping CA-1 would bring us to 219 R – 216 D. Sherman adds that 80 year-old Indiana Republican Jim Baird has been hospitalized after a car accident, who knows how bad it is. In any case Johnson’s hanging on by an ever-thinning thread.