Too many people have been ignoring the congressional race in CA-01 (NE CA) because it is so traditionally red. But the red is waning this year, thanks in part to 45*’s unpopularity, which is dragging one of his biggest GOP congressional supporters, Doug LaMalfa, down with him.
It is thus quite telling what a stellar candidate we have in Audrey Denney that the right leaning daily newspaper, the Chico Enterprise-Record, is endorsing her over their former favorite son LaMalfa.
North state Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, doesn’t cross Trump.There are two possible reasons why he doesn’t speak up: Either he lacks courage to speak his mind, or he agrees.
We certainly hope LaMalfa realizes Trump is uninformed when he blames California wildfires on environmentalists and a lack of water. Does LaMalfa really think it would be good to raise Shasta Dam and displace homes, roads and bridges? He has no problem sending more north state water to the San Joaquin Valley at the expense of the delta? He doesn’t realize that Trump’s tariff war with China and other trade partners is hurting farmers right here? Or that Congress’ inability to enact any sort of immigration reform means some north state farmers can’t find workers to help harvest the crop? Or that it’s better to work with our neighbors in the Mexican government to secure our borders than to alienate them? Or that Trump’s racist dog whistles aimed at blacks, Hispanics and Muslims are offensive to people right here in his district? {snip}
We’ve only seen LaMalfa vote against Trump’s wishes once, on a federal budget vote that LaMalfa knew would pass anyway. We’ve never heard him question the president’s many inaccuracies, or try to temper his divisive comments.
Our endorsement of Denney goes beyond LaMalfa just being a yes man for Trump. His lack of significant accomplishments in Congress also plays a role. He’s a reliable vote for whatever the party wants but he hasn’t written any monumental bills in his six years in Congress.
Note — it was LaMalfa himself who blamed the wildfires on environmentalists. Drump only made similar statements after that.
The newspaper’s endorsement of Denney is somewhat a backhanded insult, but I’ll take it for this important race, especially considering the usual RW garbage they spew.