Mike McGuire is running for the House seat in California’s 1st Congressional District after California redrew the map in 2025. The General Election is happening today, putting the newly drawn district and its changing boundaries in front of voters right now.
McGuire, a Democrat from Northern California, is facing James Gallagher in a district that now includes Butte, Glenn, Tehama, Mendocino County and parts of Sonoma. That map change matters because it ties the race to a wider stretch of the North State than the old district lines covered.
McGuire’s campaign pitch
On his campaign website, McGuire said, “the highest calling in life is to help others — to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves.” He also wrote that he is willing to “go to the mat every day to make life more affordable, to grow our economy, to protect your healthcare and to stand up to Donald Trump. Because you deserve a representative who will fight as hard for you as you fight for your family. I would be honored to earn your support.”
He has tied that message to his own background. McGuire is a third-generation Northern Californian, and his family farmed prunes and grapes in the Alexander Valley of Sonoma County. Before being elected to the Senate, he served on his local school board, city council and board of supervisors.
District 1 after California Prop 50
California Prop 50 led voters in California to approve a redraw of the state’s congressional map in 2025. That placed McGuire’s race inside a reworked California’s 1st Congressional District, now spanning Butte, Glenn, Tehama, Mendocino County and parts of Sonoma.
McGuire’s campaign focuses on lowering the cost for working families, protecting access to health care and increasing federal investment in rural communities. He also emphasizes wildfire prevention and reproductive rights, saying federal decisions affect the North State.
Medicaid and the campaign
McGuire said, “We’re at a crisis point when it comes to healthcare. Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress voted to cut a trillion dollars from Medicaid. Three million Californians will lose their health care.” He has made that argument central to his race against Gallagher.
He also said that if elected, he will “stand up to Trump, hold ICE accountable,” and “protect abortion rights.” With ballots already moving to registered vote-by-mail voters in Butte County, the race now turns on how voters in the redrawn district respond to those priorities on Election Day.
Gallagher’s special-election victory earlier this year, after Doug LaMafia’s passing, gives the race an existing incumbent to challenge. How the new district lines shape that matchup is the part voters will settle in the General Election.
