Posted on 01/20/2026 11:31:24 AM PST by DFG
The White House is slamming Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “really shameful” decision to take advantage of a House Republican’s death to hobble President Trump’s legislative agenda.
The California Democrat on Friday scheduled a special election more than six months away — on Aug. 4 — to replace the late Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), who died unexpectedly on Jan. 6, leaving Republicans with a 218-213 House majority.
“Gavin Newsom is waiting until the last day, statutorily, that he can call that election,” said James Blair, White House deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs.
“The reality we have right now is this very narrow majority on both sides,” Blair told The Post. “You see Gavin Newsom, who’s going to keep the seat open in California as long as humanly possible — really shameful thing he’s doing when a rep died there.”
LaMalfa’s unexpected death, along with the resignation of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), reduced House Republicans to a five-seat majority — meaning that three defections can doom legislation.
The Northern California district is heavily Republican. LaMalfa won more than 65% of the vote in 2024.
Democrats similarly have complained about Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott allegedly dragging his feet on a special election to replace the late Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died on March 5.
A special election was held on Nov. 4 — nearly eight months after Turner’s death.
A runoff is scheduled for Jan. 31 and the certain Democratic victory will further shrink the Republican margin in the House.
Newsom, who is believed to be a leading contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, has positioned himself as a thorn in Trump’s side, and is attending this week’s World Economic Forum events in Davos, Switzerland, in an attempt to undermine and troll the president.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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Fair game, Just don’t die. More importantly don’t stick around too long.
Not a thorn. Newsom is a hemorrhoid. A perpetual pain in the *$$.
Republicans do a good enough job on their own in blocking Trump’s agenda, without any help from Democratics.
Republicans do a good enough job on their own in blocking Trump’s agenda, without any help from Democratics.
Never expect anything but the very worst possible from democrats like Newscum.
We’ve got to keep Newscum as far away from the White House as humanly possible.
Ain’t Communism wonderful.
Each state has different rules when it comes to when a governor has to call a special election to fill a House vacancy. It would be interesting to see how quickly he’d move to replace Nancy should she shuffle off this mortal coil before the end of her term.
That’s the Democrat definition of democracy.
“Democrats similarly have complained about Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott allegedly dragging his feet on a special election to replace the late Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died on March 5.”
Hypocritical Democrats complaining about Gov. Abbott’s strategic scheduling the Special Election for the Texas 18th, but support Newsome is his unfair and spiteful scheduling of a Special Election.
When is the election for MTG’s seat in Georgia?
Gawd I miss Doug
Heavy sigh
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