A PAC aligned with Republican incumbent Dan Newhouse reportedly spent $35,000 on a text messaging campaign in Central Washington to promote a challenger they believed he will beat in the general election.
A story this week by Politico says the campaign sent tens of thousands of text messages to the biggest supporters of former President Donald Trump in the days leading up to the Aug. 6 primary election.
Those messages focused on promoting Republican challenger Jerrod Sessler as Trump's preferred candidate, overshadowing another challenger, Tiffany Smiley, also a Republican, in the primary.
Smiley received the former president's endorsement 72 hours before ballot drop boxes closed, obfuscating a clear, single choice for MAGA-aligned voters in the final hours of the race for Washington's 4th Congressional District.
"Tiffany would have been a problem for Dan," Sarah Chamberlain, CEO and president of the Republican Main Street Partnership, told Politico. "We had 35,000 MAGA (voters) that we knew were hardcore Trumpers. And we had all their contacts, so we just kept texting."
Chamberlain argued Sessler would be the easier opponent for Newhouse to defeat in the 2024 general election. Smiley had previously taken more moderate stances on issues during her failed 2022 run for U.S. Senate, and her presence in the general election would have threatened the broader coalition of voters that Newhouse needs to win a sixth term in Congress.
But other Republicans argue Smiley simply miscalculated her support in Central Washington during her short, 93-day campaign, a contrast to the grassroots MAGA support Sessler had accumulated over 3 1/2 years of campaigning.
Sessler came in first during the primary election, earning 33% of the vote in an eight-person race. He'll move on to the general election with Newhouse, who came in second with 23%.
Smiley fell short of advancing, earning 19% and placing third.
Democratic candidates split the progressive vote three ways, receiving nearly 23% of the vote. A single, focused candidate running an aggressive campaign could have beat out Newhouse this cycle.
Political spending
Spending cash to prop up political opponents in primaries isn't a nascent political move.
During the 2022 midterm election, Democrats spent $19 million across eight states promoting MAGA and far-right candidates they believed would be easier to defeat in the general election. The spending appears to have worked out and most of those candidates did lose, according to NPR.
Newhouse is one of the last Republicans still serving in the U.S. House who voted in 2021 to impeach Trump over his role in fomenting the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. At least nine people, including five police officers, died in connection to the event.
He and nine other Republicans joined Democrats to pass the articles of impeachment, but they failed to get enough "guilty" votes in the U.S. Senate to oust the president.
As a result, Newhouse has been targeted by Trump, who in recent months has called the Sunnyside farmer a "weak and pathetic RINO," or Republican in name only.
Washington's 4th Congressional District stretches from the U.S.-Canada border down to the Columbia River, and includes the Tri-Cities, Omak, East Wenatchee, Moses Lake, Yakima and the Yakama Indian Reservation.
It is the state's most Republican-leaning congressional district.
Democrats and moderate Republicans likely will be the deciding factor in the general election with two Republicans on the ballot.
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