State Sen. Mike McGuire is vying to represent California’s 1st Congressional District in the June elections.
The Sonoma County Democrat is among the key candidates running in the special primary election to finish the term of the late Congressman Doug LaMalfa.
McGuire is also trying to secure a full term in a newly redrawn 1st District that’s friendlier to Democrats and includes communities in the North Bay.
In an interview with NSPR’s Erik Adams, McGuire laid out his plans on addressing healthcare access, wildfire risk and the economy.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
What do you think are the biggest issues facing the North State right now?
We're at a crisis point when it comes to healthcare. Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress voted to cut a trillion dollars from Medicaid. Three million Californians will lose their health care. So let's take Butte County, for example, Oroville Hospital. Oroville Hospital is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Eighty-five percent of their revenue comes from two federal sources, Medicaid and Medicare. We already lost Adventist Health after the fire. We're left with Enloe and Oroville. We're going to look at six to 10 hospitals and health centers that will close by mid 2027 in rural California. Glenn County Medical has already shut its doors, 150 medical professionals have had to be able to seek other employment. This is simply unacceptable. On day one, Democrats in Congress need to grow a damn spine and fight back against this fascist administration. And what I mean by that is we have to repeal the $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid. We have to repeal the $2.2 trillion in cuts that Donald Trump has given billionaires in this country. It is shameful.
We have to raise the federal minimum wage. It has been $7.25 for 20 years. As Senate leader and as a state senator, we've raised the minimum wage in this state, $25 minimum wage for healthcare workers, $20 minimum wage for fast food workers. And the reason being, is two-thirds minimum wage earners in this country are women and women of color.
I think another really big and challenging issue here in the North State is wildfire, and I've made it my mission to be able to double the number of Cal Fire firefighters. Look, there are a lot of parallels between what we saw in the Camp Fire and what we saw in the Tubbs Fire. And when you see challenge, and I get emotional talking about it, but when you see challenge, like these massive, megafires, our leaders have to move with speed. This isn't about partisan politics. This is about keeping people safe. And so what I've done in the state Senate, we've doubled the number of Cal Fire firefighters. We've put more airplanes in the sky, more fire trucks on the road, we've launched satellites. Thirty percent of all fires are identified by Cal Fire now before a 911 call comes into a call center. We've deployed thousands of wildfire detection cameras, and the United States Forest Service is being gutted by Donald Trump. Seventy-four percent of Forest Service research centers are being shuttered because of the reckless policies of Donald Trump. He's cut the United States Forest Service budget, thousands of Forest Service personnel have been laid off. Sixty percent of Plumas County's land mass is federal land. This doesn't work. We need to fully fund federal rural schools. We need to fully fund PILT, payment in lieu of taxes, to make sure that rural counties and communities get what they're due from the federal government. And then, candidly, we need an active and engaged dance partner with the federal government. The federal government owns and manages nearly 55% of all forest land in the state of California, they're not contributing a damn dime to wildfire mitigation. In California, we've secured $8 billion for wildfire mitigation, fire breaks, dead and dying tree removal, vegetation management. That's where I think we need to focus.
Here in the North State, water security is absolutely critical to the agricultural community. The largest employer of the North State is the agricultural sector. We're the number one ag economy in the United States of America. We need to fight for water security. We need to eliminate the Trump tariff taxes. And let's just talk about what Trump tariff taxes are doing to almond farmers or walnut growers or beef growers. It's been devastating, right? So, 16% increase on the cost of farm equipment, fertilizer is up by 100% year to year, 100%, and those foreign economies that were buying California almonds, California rice, California walnuts, they're looking elsewhere because of these ridiculous tariff taxes. And the American people are eating the tariff costs. Ninety-four percent of all costs of Trump's tariff taxes are being eaten by the American people. Foreign governments are only paying 6%. This is complete and utter BS and Democrats have to grow a damn spine and fight this reckless fascist president.
Economic opportunity can be limited in rural areas like the 1st Congressional District. How would you address economic opportunity?
So first of all, we need to eliminate the tariff taxes that's putting $2,400 annual burden onto families. So the average American family has seen their cost increase $2,400 this year compared to last. Number two, we need to restore the $32 billion in subsidies to the Affordable Care Act. The average American patient who's on the ACA is spending $1,500 more this year than they did last because Donald Trump has eliminated the ACA subsidies.
On jobs, as a state senator, working with Senator Caballero and Senator Gonzales, our governor, we've launched the largest rural broadband initiative in the United States of America. It's happening right now, $6 billion to connect rural communities and rural businesses. I look at high-speed internet as electricity. It needs to be a common utility, and the federal government needs to play ball with this state. We're investing $6 billion in state funds to connect last mile, middle mile, tens of thousands of Californians here in the North State and in Northern California. We have to have the fundamentals.
Number two, we have to develop our own healthcare workforce, right? And so what I've done in the California State Senate, we're building the largest healthcare education job hub in Humboldt County right now. And what that is, is a partnership with the College of the Redwoods and Cal Poly Humboldt. It is 30,000 square feet. It's at an old elementary school, and they're going to graduate every healthcare tech, lab tech, and licensed vocational nurse, phlebotomist for a three-county region. We need our own healthcare education job hub so that we grow our own workforce. We got to double the number of rural county doctor residency programs. If a doctor practices in a rural hospital in their residency program, they're 60% more likely to stay in the community that they do the residency through. We need to double the number of rural doctors. We have to expand career training academies at local community colleges. That's what we're doing right now in the senate district. So I secured the funds working with Congressman Huffman to be able to build a brand new fire academy at the Willits center that will expand the number of firefighters for Lake and Mendocino County, healthcare tech academy, and construction trades academy. We're doubling the number of firefighters at the Santa Rosa Junior College academy. We launched the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Cal Poly Humboldt. The largest nonprison investment in rural California in 50 years was when we transitioned Humboldt State into Cal Poly Humboldt.
That's the type of vision, the energy, the focus and the dedication to be able to grow jobs here. And that means we need the infrastructure possible.
And the last piece I'll just say is we have to focus on housing, right? So there are some fundamentals that ensure that people live and stay in communities, and move communities. You got to have good schools, quality healthcare and affordable housing, and the federal government has to be much more engaged in funding public education, unlike what's happening right now in the Trump administration, literally decimating and taking the Department of Education apart.
You already talked about healthcare a bit. Access can be limited in rural areas in the district. How would you address those healthcare needs?
We're already doing it. Last year we passed Senate Bill 669, that will expand birthing centers in rural parts of this state. And here's what I'm super excited about: Plumas healthcare district in Quincy, they will be the first rural hospital to open up a birthing center in the state of California. We have birthing deserts in rural California. Over 50 maternity wards have closed over the past many years, and that is a crisis point. So we passed legislation that will now allow independent birthing centers to open up in partnership with local hospital districts. And the first one will open up, I'm hoping by the end of the year, but for sure, by 2027 here in Quincy. So number one, we have to focus on maternal health, and that is a passion of mine.
Number two, we need to protect reproductive health care. So as Senate leader, last year, we secured the funds to keep every Planned Parenthood health center open in the state of California, 100 of them. We just renewed that commitment. We need to put the billion dollars that Donald Trump cut back into Planned Parenthood. It is unacceptable, and women cannot be treated as second-class citizens. Reproductive healthcare, safe and confidential abortion care and contraception matters, and we have to keep Planned Parenthood open.
Third, we have to repeal the trillion dollars in Medicaid cuts. It will have a devastating impact. This is one of the top concerns that all of us should be worried about. It keeps me up at night. Three million Californians will lose their healthcare in mid 2027, it's already done, and the friggin Republicans buried it. The Medicaid cuts won't take effect until after the midterm elections. It's disgusting. They buried it.
How will you make sure North State communities are heard in Washington?
Well, here's what I've heard in my 36 town halls. I've hosted 36 town halls over the last five months. I'm the only one in this race. We launched our Roadshow for Democracy. We've gone to Sierraville and Susanville and Red Bluff, here in Chico and Willows and everywhere in between. And what I've heard is that they haven't seen their member of Congress, in some cases, for years. That's unacceptable. Do we live in hyper-partisan times? You're damn right we do. But we work for the people of the North State. We better show up and hear what they have to say. So here's what I would do — do what I've been doing now. This is not how I campaign. This is literally how I work. I show up, I listen and I deliver. What you'll see is that I'm a coalition builder. So for example, in Chico, the Warren decision, that decision ends in January. What I would do is I would bring Democrats, Republicans, business owners, behavioral health professionals, all together to focus on a long-term homelessness strategy in Butte County. When it comes to healthcare, I would immediately convene a group around Oroville Hospital and how we're going to be able to stay off permanent bankruptcy and that hospital shutting down. I would convene a group of leaders in Glenn County to be able to focus on reopening their only hospital in the county. And by the way, what that's going to take is upfront cash. I'm grateful to U.S. Senator Schiff, who got the designation changed, but they need upfront cash, just like Madera did, to be able to reopen their doors.
We need a member of Congress who sets aside partisan politics and focuses on people first. The highest calling in life is to help people. When someone's house burns down, you don't ask if they're a Democrat or Republican. You ask how I can help, and especially in these challenging times that we're all living in, it's about putting people first. Folks will think that I live in the community that they live in. I show up, I listen and I deliver. It's all about hard work for me, and no matter if you're a Democrat, a Republican or Independent, your livelihood matters, and that's what I'm all about.
