The Guardian Quotes Professor Pruitt on California Congressional Race

Professor Lisa R. Pruitt commented in a May 8 story in The Guardian on former California State Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, a Sonoma County Democrat running for Congress in Northern California’s first district. Maguire could be competitive in the historically Republican district, which was redrawn by California’s Proposition 50 to favor Democrats.

McGuire is seeking the first district seat in two elections—the November midterms and a special election this summer to complete the term of longtime Republican Congressman Doug LaMalfa, who died in January.

“It’s hard for me to imagine a Democrat winning that district,” Pruitt said of the special election, which will follow the district’s previous boundaries.

UC Davis Law alum and state Assemblyman James Gallagher ’07 (R-Yuba City) also is vying for the first district seat. As The Guardian notes, the Chico Enterprise-Record split its endorsement, favoring Gallagher in the special election and McGuire for the full, two-year term.

Distinguished Professor of Law Lisa R. Pruitt is Brigitte Bodenheimer Research Scholar and president of the Rural Sociological Society. Her recent work explores the legal relevance of rural spatiality, including how it inflects dimensions of gender, race, and ethnicity. Pruitt's work also considers rural-urban difference in transnational and international contexts. She is the recipient of the law school’s 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award.