Rep. Jared Huffman has spent more than a decade representing California's liberal North Coast. Now he's campaigning in some of the state's most conservative counties, where concerns about wolves, ranching and federal land management dominate political conversations.
The district changed after California voters approved Proposition 50 in 2025, a Democratic-backed redistricting plan designed to help the party gain U.S. House seats and counter Republican redistricting efforts elsewhere in the country.
The new map expanded Huffman's district eastward to include Siskiyou, Shasta and Modoc counties. The change has transformed one of the state's most reliably Democratic districts into a far larger and more politically diverse region, forcing Huffman to introduce himself to voters who often hold very different views from his coastal base.
Huffman, first elected to Congress in 2012, has rarely faced a competitive race. He has won every election with more than two-thirds of the vote, representing a district that stretched along the Northern California coast from Del Norte County to the Golden Gate Bridge.
He said he already knew most of his original district before winning his first election.
“It was very familiar to me,” he said. “From fishing and doing some of my environmental advocacy.”
Despite the overwhelming Democratic support, he also represented Republican areas, including Trinity and Del Norte counties.
“I've built great relationships with community leaders, elected officials, many of whom probably don't even vote for me at the end of the day,” said Huffman. “But we have really productive working relationships, and to me, that's what matters most.”
In the district's newly added counties, Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 2-to-1.
The political shift is also geographic. The old district was anchored by coastal communities focused on fishing, tourism and environmental issues. The new territory includes ranching and timber counties where public lands, water rights, wolves and wildfire management are often top concerns.
“There's just a lot of obstacles that we face,” said Mary Rickert, a former Shasta County supervisor and rancher. “They have to be practical and understand we just don't fit in the same categories as what goes on in the urban areas.”
A flashpoint over wolves
One issue has become a symbol of that divide: wolves.
Gray wolves, which are federally endangered, began returning to California in 2011 after nearly a century of absence. Their growing presence has sparked conflict in parts of Northern California where ranchers say livestock losses are mounting.
Rickert said she has had 21 confirmed wolf kills on her ranching operations.
“When we shipped cows a year ago out of our Siskiyou County operation,” she said, "we had 200 mother cows and only 160 calves, so there are 40 calves that were unaccounted for.”
Rickert said ranchers are not against wolves in general, but they believe the bad wolves that attack livestock need to be killed.
“We need to come to some compromise,” said Rickert. “Because this is taking a huge toll, not just financially, but it's really hard on our cattle. It impacts herd health. It impacts fertility.”
Rickert said ranchers make up a relatively small share of Northern California's population but have an outsized economic impact. Livestock in Siskiyou, Shasta and Modoc counties —where wolves have been causing the most problems — is worth more than $300 million.
Huffman said wolves are among the issues he is still learning as he campaigns in the district's eastern reaches.
"California seems to have it worse than anywhere else right now," Huffman said. "And I'm very interested in understanding exactly why that is and what are some of the strategies that can bring us to a better point of coexistence."
Killing all the wolves won’t be the solution for Huffman. He said he wants to work to fix the problem, pointing to a lack of deer herds in Northern California, an issue Rickert also mentioned.
“Some of that is habitat losses and other choices that we've made,” said Huffman. “But we can restore some of that habitat in ways that reduce pressure on the ranchers for wolf conflict, and actually are something that hunters and outdoorsmen might be very interested in as well.”
Can a coastal Democrat represent the interior?
Some people in rural Northern California are concerned about whether a congressman from Marin County can effectively represent the district's rural interior.
“The old district one — the one that's in effect now — it's local people who know what's going on, and they represent us in Washington to that effect,” said Dan Dorsey, chairman of the Siskiyou County Republican Central Committee. “Now, it's going to be some yahoo from the Bay Area?”
Dorsey said that their previous representative, the late Doug LaMalfa, fought for ranchers and the local timber industry. He worries the rural parts of the district will be neglected.
That criticism has become a central argument for some of Huffman's opponents.
During a debate in April, Republican Paul Saulsbury said the district needs a stronger voice for rural communities.
“This is not about me,” Saulsbury said. “This is about representing the people of this district. We need a voice. We need a strong voice for this district.”
Saulsbury is one of seven candidates competing against Huffman in the June primary.
Although Huffman enters the race with a significant fundraising advantage and more than a decade of incumbency, Rickert warned that Shasta County has a history of voting out incumbents.
"I think there may be a strong message being sent from Shasta County by the time November rolls around," Rickert said.
The top two candidates in the June primary will face off in November.
