Republican Congressman Doug LaMalfa Dies, Shrinking House Majority

Republican Representative Doug LaMalfa has died, further shrinking the narrow GOP House majority, according to party leaders.

The California Republican’s death after 13 years in Congress was announced as House Republicans headed into a party retreat at Washington’s Kennedy Center to begin a messy midterm election campaign year fractured by infighting and behind in the polls.

President Donald Trump, who said LaMalfa died Monday, praised the lawmaker as a reliable ally in a speech to lawmakers at the retreat.

“He was with us all the way,” Trump said.

Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned as of this week following bitter recriminations against party leaders, and with LaMalfa's death, the GOP can now only afford two defections on any party-line vote. 

Small groups of hard-line conservatives have repeatedly pressured party leaders by withholding their votes and swing-district moderates have applied pressure recently by forcing a vote on extending Obamacare subsidies over the opposition of party leaders. That vote is expected later this week. 

Republican Representative Richard Hudson, the party’s House campaign chairman, announced LaMalfa’s death at age 65 in a statement Tuesday, lauding the lawmaker as “a principled conservative.”

Neither Trump nor Hudson provided information on how LaMalfa died. The lawmaker's death shrinks the Republican House majority to 218 members to 213 Democrats. 

LaMalfa’s once-safe Republican seat has been redistricted by California Democrats to make it competitive. The loss of the incumbent will make the seat even harder for the GOP to defend in the 2026 midterms. 

Republican Representative Jim Baird of Indiana is hospitalized due to a car accident, further imperiling the fragile majority, according to a person familiar with the situation. With Baird absent, Republicans can only lose one vote on party-line votes when all Democrats are present and united in opposing GOP legislation.