photo credit: Hector Amezcua
State Sen. Mike McGuire, a Democrat from Healdsburg, holds his son Connor as he is sworn in,
as Senate president pro tem by California Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero on Feb. 5, 2024.

KRCB News speaks with our journalism partners at CalMatters to learn more about local politician Mike McGuire's run for a congressional seat.

Maya C. Miller recently published a story with the headline "Democrat Mike McGuire challenges GOP Rep. Doug LaMalfa for new Prop. 50 seat." We started our conversation by asking Miller what she learned reporting out this story....

MAYA C. MILLER/CALMATTERS: So I think that Senator McGuire, who is just recently coming out of serving as president pro tem of the Senate, I think that it was pretty well known that he is wanting to run for a congressional seat, wanting to, or that would be the logical next step for him since he is not able to run again, to be in the legislature and to run for Congress. I think the launch video that he put out is pretty telling as it appears he preemptively addresses the potential criticism that he is out of touch with rural Californians. You know, this is a district that was redrawn under Proposition 50, and this district really changed from being kinda more Modoc county, Siskiyou, along the Oregon-California border…a rural area…which Representative LaMalfa has represented for quite some time in Congress…to a seat that just barely captures the area where Senator McGuire's home is in…Santa Rosa and kind of the outer Bay Area. So I think what he was trying to do in this launch video is to really get some bonafides with a number of rural communities that he would be—if he were to win this seat—representing who have so far for the last several years been represented by this very, you know, rice farmer, rural, gritty guy in Doug LaMalfa.

GRETA MART/KRCB: We cover McGuire since he lives in Healdsburg, is from our area, ever since he was in local politics. So [in Sacramento] how do his colleagues, staffers, lobbyists— how does everyone regard him? What's his profile?

MILLER: I think he's a multifaceted figure. I think that on a personal level, people think that he's very personable, approachable, but I think that—especially this past legislative session—there was really some frustration among members of the Democratic caucus that when it comes to leadership style, he, he's a bit of a micromanager, is the reputation that I've heard from a number of my sources who interact with members of the Senate and lobbyists. And it was a pervasive feeling this year that he likes to be able to have the final say when it comes to policy decisions. He likes to be able to see through any sort of deal that that's being struck between the Senate, the governor, the Assembly…

MART: You report that he really made—after the 2017 fires—he really made wildfire one of his signature issues. So what tangible things has he done to help either people recover or to help prevent such an occurrence from happening again?

MILLER: Yeah, and he highlights this in his launch video, his work with wildfire prevention and recovery. For example, this past year, following the horrendous Palisades and Eaton fires in January, he really spearheaded this ambitious multi-bill package that would, among other things, expand insurance coverage for homeowners in California, especially in areas at risk of fire, and then to speed up rebuilding of damaged homes after destructive fires. It's telling that, I think it was 13 bills in this package that he helped to usher through the Senate and the legislature earlier this year. That was sort of his signature accomplishment of the year.

MART: What about the voters in this new district? Are they really gonna go for a Democrat like McGuire? If LaMalfa is out, who is going to take his place?

MILLER: This new district is drawn in a way where just by sheer numbers, the number of registered Democrats outnumbers the number of registered Republican voters. So presumably this would be a Democrats race to lose. It would take a lot of mobilization and turnout on behalf of a Republican to really pose a serious challenge to a Democrat in this newly constructed district. But LaMalfa has not said that he is bowing out. He's not conceded that he's done, if anything, knowing him just based on previous reporting…he is defiant. He is a fighter. He was out campaigning against Prop 50 all the way up to election day when the polls were showing that Prop 50 was pretty handily going to pass. And so I wouldn't count him out of the fight just yet.