Partisan gerrymandering in California could carve up a Republican climate science skeptic’s district and feed it to a top Democratic climate hawk, and it’s now prompting a war of words from both lawmakers.
The Democrat, Rep. Jared Huffman, mused to POLITICO’s E&E News recently that perhaps Republican voters would “welcome someone who accepts climate science and is sort of living in the 21st century.”
The Republican, Rep. Doug LaMalfa, scoffed that being replaced by Huffman would be like “having a mini Gavin Newsom,” the state’s Democratic governor and a bête noire to Republicans.
The California redistricting will be on the ballot for voters in the state this fall in response to a recent Texas gerrymander that could eliminate as many as five Democrats from the House. Newsom is pushing the redraw in his state to eliminate five Republican seats to even the score as both parties jockey for control in 2026.
Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, is one of Capitol Hill’s staunchest defenders of climate action.
LaMalfa, on the other hand, has made a habit of quizzing climate experts, witnesses and officials on the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere, which he regularly calls a “rounding error.”
Both Huffman and LaMalfa, the latter the chair of the Western Caucus, represent vast rural swaths of Northern California and have had their share of spats on the Natural Resources Committee, tangling over water issues, energy policy and the management of public lands and wildlife.
Lamalfa’s congressional chief of staff and campaign manager, Mark Spannagel, said in a statement that LaMalfa would work to defeat the ballot initiative seeking to redraw the lines, adding, “[H]e’s not worried about the new lines. He’s running for re-election in his current district.”
But if Democrats were to succeed, LaMalfa suggested the merging of their districts would result in disenfranchisement.
“The voters will be voiceless to have a counterbalance to the issues that are affecting them,” LaMalfa said. “You’re going to the Bay Area representatives that favor this stuff as the voice, right now at least they have a countervoice.”
LaMalfa pointed to a host of issues that he believes Huffman would be out of step on in his new district. He rattled off his concerns with gray wolf protections that are unpopular with farmers, water use worries and wildfire prevention.
LaMalfa has long fought against environmental laws that he says stymie effective forest management, while Huffman has fought for years to protect those laws.
“Nobody on the coast wants to cut any trees to speak of, they don’t want to build water supply, they want the water to all go to fish and environmental stuff,” LaMalfa added.
As for how Huffman would represent his district, LaMalfa was more blunt: “It’d be like having a mini Gavin Newsom for their local representative.”
Huffman sees it differently.
“I think a lot of [voters] would welcome someone who accepts climate science and is sort of living in the 21st century,” Huffman said. “The most important thing is they deserve a representative that shows up and works hard for them, and I’m willing to do that.”
And despite the different makeup of the two districts, Huffman didn’t sound like he was going to compromise on the policies that have defined his career.
“I already have a district that kind of presents the same spectrum,” he said. “The key is you say the same thing no matter where in the district you are, you don’t tell different people in different counties different messages, and just work hard and people give you a lot of credit for that.”
Tough math
The new Legislature-approved map to redraw California’s congressional districts midcycle would split LaMalfa’s 1st District into two Democratically aligned districts.
The northern stretch of the district — which includes the populous and deep red Shasta County — would be swallowed up into Huffman’s new 2nd District that spans the entire coast north of San Francisco.
According to data compiled by Inside Elections, the new district Huffman is running in would have a 25-point Democratic advantage, based on 2024 election results, down from a 45-point margin in his current district but still solidly blue.
LaMalfa’s new 1st District would flip from a 25-point GOP advantage to a 12-point Democratic lean. LaMalfa has not said whether he intends to run for reelection in either of the new districts
In 2024, Huffman won more than 70 percent of the vote in his current district and LaMalfa won roughly 65 percent in his. Two low-population counties went red in Huffman’s current district, while none went blue in LaMalfa’s.
There are other differences, too, in the territory that Huffman will be enveloping. Huffman’s district is nearly entirely coastal, while LaMalfa’s is landlocked.
And LaMalfa’s district is also home to some of the most conservative voters in the state, including those who sympathize with the “State of Jefferson” secessionist movement. Residents there have a history of opposing clean energy projects.
Such regional rivalries were on display at a hearing last year.
Huffman said he represented the “lower region of the Klamath basin,” which rubbed LaMalfa the wrong way.
“Mr. Huffman claims he represents the basin,” LaMalfa said. “No, you represent the last 50 miles of the river.”
“Go back to geography class,” Huffman retorted, prompting LaMalfa to shoot back, “You need the geography class, you’ve been screwing around up there for long enough.”
Both men do represent significant stretches of the Klamath basin, with LaMalfa representing the upper portion and Huffman the lower end where it feeds into the Pacific Ocean.
‘Just a gross liar’
Some Democrats are gleeful over the chance to replace LaMalfa.
“I suppose at some level we could chuckle over it,” said Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), a prominent climate hawk.
He also dismissed the idea that conservative voters might be upset at being represented by a lawmaker with an environmental focus.
“Why do we live in a world where somebody who says climate change is real and I want to protect the natural environment and preserve it for future generations is perceived as an extreme partisan? And someone who is like an absurd denier — who in the best case is an idiot, in the worst case is just a gross liar — why do we perceive that as being mainstream Republican orthodoxy?” Casten added.
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), who is also endangered under the new map, has introduced a bill to ban midcycle redistricting and thwart the new maps in California and Texas.
“That’s a perfect example of why California voters have decided that redistricting should not be done by self-interested politicians,” Kiley said. “They ignore what’s in the interests of good representation in favor of what’s in their own political self-interest.”
Another Californian, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), disagreed, arguing people currently represented by LaMalfa would be better off under Huffman.
“Jared Huffman is a far stronger advocate and spokesperson for all of those things, and I think it would be a blessing for him to be able to represent those communities and fight for what they need,” she said. “Many of them really haven’t had the representation they deserve.”
