Democrat Audrey Denney will run against Rep. Doug LaMalfa if CA approves new maps
Democrat Audrey Denney, a two-time challenger of Republican Congressman Doug LaMalfa, said she will step back into the ring if California voters approve new congressional maps this November.
Gov. Gavin Newsom officially launched the redistricting campaign Thursday, after threatening retaliatory action for weeks in response to Texas’ legislative effort to redraw districts that will give the GOP five more seats, at President Donald Trump’s behest.
Proposed maps leaked Friday show LaMalfa’s 1st Congressional District, reliably red in the rural North State, would contain more Democratic parts of Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties.
Denney, currently an ag consultant and the incoming Director of Civic Engagement at Chico State, has worked in various roles across the public and private sectors.
“I know I would be a hell of a lot better than the representative that got booed out of his hometown this Monday,” she said, referring to a raucous town hall LaMalfa hosted Monday.
Neither LaMalfa’s former campaign office nor his Chico district office responded to calls Friday afternoon. However, in a statement released with other members of the California Congressional Republicans in late July, the longtime politician pledged to fight against the redistricting effort.
“It’s a shame that Governor Newsom and the radical Left in Sacramento are willing to spend $200 million on a statewide special election, while running a deficit of $20 billion, in order to silence the opposition in our state,” the statement read, in part.
Denney has squared off with LaMalfa twice before, first in 2018 and again in 2020. In 2018, she received 45.1% of the vote in comparison to LaMalfa’s 54.9%. In 2020, she received 43% of the vote compared to LaMalfa’s 57%.
She said she likes her chances with the new maps, and feels they will build on an existing foundation.
“I carried Butte County both times that I ran,” she said. “So we’ll have Butte, and then Glenn, Lassen, Plumas and Tehama are the other counties that I’ve run in before that I will have good name recognition in.”
As for how she’s different from LaMalfa, aside from pointing out he’s been in elected office since she was in high school, Denney, 41, said she has no aspirations to be a career politician, and wouldn’t take corporate PAC money.
“I want to go to D.C. for a couple of terms, help fight back against this authoritarianism, push through some policies to help make our forests safer and boost our local economy, address climate change — those are the things I want to do.”
The proposed maps also show districts represented by Republican Reps. Kevin Kiley, David Valadao, Ken Calvert and Darrell Issa would be at risk if voters approve them. If successful, the effort would increase Democrats’ holdings in the state from 43 to 48 of the state’s 52 U.S. House seats. Redistricting veteran Paul Mitchell drafted the maps.
The Legislature must still approve the maps, a constitutional amendment and a special election next week for the redistricting proposition to make it onto the ballot. Both Assembly and Senate elections committees will hold hearings Tuesday morning to discuss the special election and proposed maps.
This story was originally published August 15, 2025 at 5:45 PM.
