California District 1 Gets Four Elections in One Year

Hold onto your ballot—California’s U.S. House District 1 voters are about to enter an electoral marathon that won’t wrap until late fall.

Here’s the wild part: you might be asked to vote for the same seat four separate times in 2026. This isn’t some clerical error or procedural glitch. It’s the direct result of two overlapping elections happening simultaneously: a special election to fill the remainder of the late Doug LaMalfa’s term, plus a separate race for a new full term beginning in January.

The June 2 primary kicks things off with both contests on the same ballot. For the special election, if no candidate breaks 50% of the vote, the top two finishers will head to a runoff on August 4. Whoever wins that race—50% threshold or not—takes office until early January. Then comes the race for the full two-year term, where the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the November general election. Do the math: primary (special), runoff (special), primary (full term), general (full term). That’s four separate voting opportunities for the exact same House seat.

There’s another layer of complexity worth paying attention to. U.S. House District 1 is one of five districts targeted by voter-approved Proposition 50, which implements new, Democratic-drawn maps designed to shift the congressional balance toward Democrats. So this year’s races aren’t just about replacing LaMalfa—they’re happening under new political terrain entirely.

For voters already fatigued by election season, this is either a sign of how seriously the district is contested or a cautionary tale about how convoluted our electoral system can become. Either way, polls close at 8 p.m. on June 2, and the results will set the stage for an intense few months ahead.