Incumbent Rep. Huffman cautiously addresses primary lead

MENDOCINO CO., 6/4/26 — U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, appears to be leading the contest for the newly drawn District 2 seat in Tuesday’s primary election. But as the vote count continues, the picture of a consolidated opposition becomes clearer in a district that now includes many ranchers in some of California’s most conservative counties.

Huffman said in a statement that the Republican opposition will be unified in the November general election, whereas in the primary the Republican vote was split between four candidates.

“Finishing 38 points ahead of the nearest opponent in these initial returns is exciting, but let’s be clear: this was just the first round, and we can’t become complacent,” Huffman said in the post-election statement. “The GOP vote was divided among many candidates … in November, I’ll face just one — likely Redding school board member Robin Littau.”

On Election Night, early reporting showed Huffman winning 52% of the vote, which dropped slightly to 50.3% by Thursday, with a total of 52,058 votes. Combined, the four Republican candidates received 37,896 votes, with another 5,981 votes going to candidates that declared no party preference. Fellow Democratic candidate Rose Penelope Yee had 7,566 votes.

Huffman noted in his statement that Littau is on course to be the only Republican on the ballot in a district where voters in five of the district’s nine counties backed President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

“It will be a serious challenge, so we must continue to work for every vote and take nothing for granted,” he said.

The district spans the North Coast of California, from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border. After the state’s voters passed last year’s Proposition 50 redistricting measure, District 2 now includes parts of Modoc, Shasta and Siskiyou counties, where ranchers are concerned about protecting their cattle from wolves.

Huffman serves as ranking member on the House Committee on Natural Resources, and has built a reputation as a progressive, opposing oil and gas drilling along the Pacific coast. At a recent event in Marin County, Huffman mentioned the need to legislate a solution for managing wolves that are threatening cattle ranchers.

“There have been wolf bills from the upper Midwest, from Wyoming, Montana, it’s been a controversy for years,” he said. “We can protect them, but we are at a point where we have to manage some conflicts. Studies are showing their diet is 90% of beef right now, and modeling shows they are going to travel all the way to Palm Springs.”

Huffman also recently criticized Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for defending efforts to keep Potter Valley Project dams in place and seeking potential buyers for the aging system. The century-old hydroelectric system spans Mendocino and Lake counties.

Littau, the likely challenger in the November election, serves on the Enterprise Elementary School District board in Redding that includes eight elementary schools and one junior high school.

In her Ballotpedia candidate survey, the South Dakota-born Littau said she has 25 years of community service experience and is the owner of two small businesses, including a cleaning service and Joyful Living Magazine. Littau said she supports decreasing taxes, waste and fraud. Her list of endorsements include the Shasta County Republican Central Committee, Sonoma Republican Central Committee and Reform California, a grassroots political action committee led by conservative radio host and former San Diego City Council member Carl DeMaio.