Gallagher elected to serve rest of LaMalfa’s term in Congress

By Madeline Shannon
The Center Square

California Assemblymember James Gallagher, R-East Nicolaus, has been elected to serve the rest of the late Republican U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa’s current term.

Gallagher is also one of the candidates to advance into the general election for the same seat’s term starting in January 2027. Gallagher and other candidates maintained their leads in Northern California races for the U.S. House.

Gallagher garnered 62.6% of the vote by Wednesday during the special election for this year’s term, which was part of Tuesday’s California primary. The candidates with the next-best showing are Democrats Audrey Denney and California state Sen. Mike McGuire, who each split the vote 17.6%, according to the poll numbers Wednesday afternoon from the California Secretary of State’s Office.

“Between now and November, we’ll be trying to get results for the people of the North State on health care issues, cost of living issues, then we’re going to be campaigning hard to win the new congressional seat,” Gallagher, the Republican frontrunner in the redrawn Congressional District 1, told The Center Square Wednesday morning. “We’re at 47% right now, which is a pretty strong showing in a district that was gerrymandered to favor Democrats.”

In the primary election for the 2027-29 Congressional District 1 term, Gallagher received 47.2% of the vote against McGuire’s 37.5% and Denney’s 13.4%. Gallagher and McGuire will now face each other in the Nov. 3 midterm election.

During all of Wednesday’s results, 100% of the precincts were partially reporting.

“We did pretty well there, and I think that shows that Democrats, independents and Republicans are voting for me,” Gallagher told The Center Square. “So that’s a good sign, and we want to continue to win over folks and ultimately win the seat.”

In comments sent through his communications director Tuesday night, McGuire thanked Northern California voters, saying that there is more that brings voters together than what divides them.

“Tonight’s numbers speak for themselves,” McGuire said. “The hard-working folks who call the First District home are tired of the chaos, corruption and cruelty of the Trump administration – and they’re ready for representation that actually delivers.”

In Congressional District 11, outgoing Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s seat, state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, pulled ahead with 41.3% of the vote compared to San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan’s 28.6%. With both Wiener and Chan pulling ahead of the nine other candidates, they will both head to the November midterm election this year.

Wiener thanked the voters of the San Francisco Bay Area in a Facebook post on Tuesday night, saying that voters were clear on issues including housing affordability, holding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement accountable and putting smart guardrails on artificial intelligence technology.

“San Franciscans understand that in the face of rising authoritarianism, we can’t return to the pre-Trump status quo,” Wiener said on Facebook. “In Congress, I’ll do what I’ve done throughout my time in office: Stick my neck out for bold ideas that make life better and more affordable. I’ll go to the mat to defend immigrants and trans people, to win on housing, and to restore government’s ability to deliver on its promises.”

In a shorter message, Chan, who secured former Speaker Pelosi’s endorsement in the race, said on Facebook on Tuesday night that she “is ready to keep fighting.”

“Wth your support, we will win in November and bring our fight to D.C.,” Chan wrote on Facebook on Tuesday night.

U.S. Rep. Adam Gray, D-Merced, will face off against the Republican candidate, Kevin Lincoln III, in the race for Congressional District 13 in the November election. According to the Secretary of State’s Office’s updated numbers, 40.9% of the vote went to Gray and 29.1% to Lincoln.

In the race for California’s superintendent of public instruction, Chino Unified School Board Chair Sonja Shaw, a Republican, led the nine other candidates with 24.9% of the vote in the nonpartisan race. Democrat Richard Barrera garnered 18.9% of the vote. Shaw recently spoke out against the presence of transgender athletes in girls’ sports during a rally in Yorba Linda in Southern California’s Orange County.

Shaw and Barrera apparently will advance to the general election to see who will succeed Democrat Tony Thurmond, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in Tuesday’s primary.