WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Doug LaMalfa, a seven-term U.S. representative from California and a reliable vote on President Donald Trump’s agenda, has died, reducing the GOP’s narrow control of the House. He was 65.
A former state lawmaker and rice farmer, LaMalfa had more than a dozen years in Congress, where he regularly helped GOP leaders open the House floor and frequently gave speeches. His death, confirmed by Majority Whip Tom Emmer and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson, trims the Republicans’ margin of control of the House to 218 seats to Democrats’ 213.
Trump expressed “tremendous sorrow” over LaMalfa’s death on Tuesday as he addressed a meeting of House Republicans, lamenting the loss of a lawmaker he championed as an ally for his agenda.
“I was really saddened by his passing,” Trump said.
The president said he considered not giving the speech to honor LaMalfa but decided to go ahead with it “because he would have wanted it that way.”
