James Gallagher

James Gallagher is the Republican U.S. Representative for California's 1st Congressional District, having won the June 2026 special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa. He is the descendant of Irish immigrants who settled in northern California in the early 1800s and was born in Yuba City in 1981. He earned a BA from UC Berkeley and a JD from UC Davis. He represented California's 3rd Assembly District from 2014 to 2026 and served as Assembly Minority Leader from 2022 to 2025. Before the Assembly, he served six years on the Sutter County Board of Supervisors. An attorney and a partner in his family's rice and walnut farming operation, he lives in Sutter County with his wife, Janna, and their five children.