MENDOCINO CO., 11/5/26 — Democrat Mike McGuire won the 1st Congressional District seat Tuesday, with inland Mendocino County backing him over Republican James Gallagher by a wider margin than the district as a whole, according to county and state election results. On the coast, voters in the 2nd District reelected Democrat Jared Huffman by about a 4-1 margin.
This was the county’s first November election since Proposition 50 split it between two districts. Inland Mendocino is now in the 1st District, which runs from Susanville in Lassen County to Santa Rosa. The coast is in the 2nd.
In the Mendocino County part of the 1st District, McGuire had 6,505 votes, or 62.60%. Gallagher had 3,886, or 37.40%, in the county’s final election-night report, posted at 11:34 p.m. Tuesday.
Across the whole district, McGuire led 88,245 to 67,012, or 56.8% to 43.2%, in the secretary of state’s count as of 7:20 p.m. Wednesday.
Gallagher holds the seat now. The Sutter County Republican won a June 2 special election to finish the term of Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who died in January, and was sworn in June 10. That election filled out LaMalfa’s term in the old district. McGuire, a state senator, takes the seat under the new lines in January.
In the June 2 primary for the new district, Mendocino County voters gave McGuire 48.73% and Gallagher 39.01%. Audrey Denney, another Democrat, had 10.16%.
At an Oct. 6 candidates forum in Ukiah, the two men were asked what they would do about water for Potter Valley, Redwood Valley, Calpella and the Ukiah Valley. The Potter Valley Project is a hydroelectric facility owned by PG&E that could be dismantled as soon as 2028.
Gallagher said McGuire was “going along with” taking down the dam and getting rid of Lake Pillsbury.
“It’s going to dry up Potter Valley. That’s wrong,” he said.
“We need to raise the dam at Coyote Valley,” McGuire said. He said PG&E had “left us holding the bag.” He called for “a four-basin solution that brings Lake County, Mendocino County, Humboldt County, and Sonoma County to the table.”
In the coastal 2nd District, Huffman had 5,555 votes, or 80.50%. Republican Robin Littau had 1,346, or 19.50%. Littau sits on the Enterprise Elementary School District board in Redding. Districtwide, Huffman led 107,256 to 54,385, or 66.4% to 33.6%.
In June, Huffman had 70.82% of the Mendocino County vote in a field of eight. Littau had 5.86%.
The county count isn’t done. The election-night report counted 17,607 ballots, 32.48% of the county’s 54,217 registered voters. In the 1st District part of the county, 10,562 of 35,610 registered voters had ballots counted. In the 2nd District part, it was 7,045 of 18,607.
Mail ballots postmarked by Tuesday still count if they reach the county by Nov. 10. As of Thursday morning, the county hadn’t posted a newer count.
This was the first November election since Proposition 50 redrew district boundaries, placing portions of the county in two separate districts