Overview

• Some 650–800 residents filled Chico’s Elks Lodge and later Red Bluff’s community center, delivering sustained boos at LaMalfa for backing Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill at his first Chico forum in eight years.
• The crowd’s ire focused on projected cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and other safety-net programs that CBO estimates could strip coverage from more than 10 million people by 2034, jeopardizing rural hospital viability.
• Farmers pressed LaMalfa to apologize or resign over tariffs they said were hurting North State agriculture, a request he flatly rejected while defending tariffs as tools to secure better trade terms.
• Attendees demanded full disclosure of Jeffrey Epstein grand jury materials, prompting LaMalfa to call further suppression “a bad look” and express hope that redacted reports will be released when Congress reconvenes.
• The confrontations mirror a national pattern of hostile GOP town halls and expose mounting electoral pressure as California’s pending redistricting could render safe seats more competitive.