Republican seven-term U.S. congressman Doug LaMalfa of California has died, reducing the GOP's already narrow control of the House. LaMalfa's death at age 65 was confirmed Tuesday by Majority Whip Tom Emmer and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson and reduces the Republicans’ margin of control of the House to 218 seats to Democrats’ 213. Details surrounding LaMalfa’s death are unclear. LaMalfa was a former state lawmaker and rice farmer. He was first elected to Congress in 2012. Hudson says LaMalfa was “a principled conservative and a tireless advocate for the people of Northern California.”
