Elect Audrey Denney to push CA-01 in the right direction.

About the Position

The United States is divided into 435 congressional districts, each with a population of about 710,000 individuals. Each district elects a representative to the House of Representatives for a two-year term. California has 53 congressional representatives. There is no term limit for this position.

About the District

California’s 1st Congressional District includes Butte, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, and Tehama counties, with portions of Glenn, Nevada, and Placer counties. Republicans have held this district since 2013, when the incumbent Rep. LaMalfa flipped CA-01 red.In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump won 56 percent of the vote in CA-01, with 37 percent for Hillary Clinton and 7 percent for third-party candidates. In the 2020 gubernatorial election, 39 percent of the CA-01 voters cast their ballot for Gavin Newsom and 61 percent cast their ballot for the Republican candidate. In the 2020 presidential primary, 46 percent of CA-01 voted for a Democratic candidate and 55 percent voted for a Republican candidate.

About the Race

In the primary, Democrat challenger Audrey Denney trailed Republican Incumbent Doug LaMalfa by 15.2 percent. In the 2018 election, Rep. LaMalfa won by a 10-point margin over Denney.

Denney’s campaign is mainly funded by large individual contributions, accounting for 98 percent of total contributions, according to campaign materials. Additionally, 67.9 percent of Denney’s campaign contributions were in-district contributions, a stark difference from Rep. LaMalfa’s 25.9 percent in-district contributions.

Denney has not accepted any corporate Super PAC donations, fossil fuel money, or police money. Meanwhile, Rep. LaMalfa’s campaign is backed by the Majority Committee PAC, which is dedicated to winning a Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Rep. LaMalfa has accepted contributions from the energy, automatic, pharmaceutical, air travel, railroad, and pistachio industries, with nearly $30,000 from the oil and gas industries. He is endorsed by the California Pro-Life Council, California Republican Assembly,  National Rifle Association, and Peace Officers Research Association of California.

About the Candidate

Audrey Denney grew up in Central California and was active in 4-H, later serving as a California FFA State Officer. According to campaign materials, she is running for Congress because CA-01 needs a representative who is effective and will fight for their best interests, not those of corporations.

Denney earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural education at CSU Chico, and taught agriculture at CSU Chico for six years. Denney currently works as a senior learning designer at Vivayic, designing agricultural curricula for worldwide companies and nonprofits. In her free time, Denney serves on Bidwell Presbyterian Church’s mission committee and on the board of directors for Cristosal, a human rights organization.

Denney’s priorities for CA-01, if elected, include expanding Medicare, investing in education, improving water infrastructure, protecting farmers and immigrant workers, securing maternity leave, reforming immigration to provide a path of legalization for immigrants already living and working here, and promoting gun-safety legislation.

Denney is endorsed by many progressive groups and unions, such as California Democratic Party, SEIU California, California Teachers Association, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Moms Demand Action, and Equality California. At this time, Denny does not have any problematic endorsements.  According to our analysis, Audrey Denney is the strongest choice for equitable and representative leadership in office.