Donald Trump will see his 2024 political clout tested in Central Washington next month when three Republican candidates grapple in the primary election for U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse's 4th Congressional District seat.
Newhouse is one of the last two remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in 2021 over the Jan. 6 attack that year on the U.S. Capitol, so his survival could represent a repudiation of the former president.
But Trump-aligned challengers Jerrod Sessler and Tiffany Smiley are putting Newhouse under pressure in Washington's most conservative district. So is Trump, who called Newhouse "a weak and pathetic RINO," short for "Republican in name only," when endorsing Sessler in April.
Even Newhouse, in an interview last month, said he planned to vote for Trump over President Joe Biden in November's presidential election, though he said his focus in the race was on issues like preserving the Snake River dams and controlling costs that affect the business of agriculture.
"I'm a Republican. I've always supported the Republican nominee for president and that is my intention," he said, speaking before Biden's June 27 debate performance stirred doubts about the Democratic nominee and before the July 13 attempted assassination of Trump outside Pittsburgh.
In social media posts after the shooting at Trump's campaign rally, Newhouse called the incident "appalling" and said he would hold Trump in his prayers, while Sessler and Smiley also voiced support for the GOP leader.
Newhouse grabbed only 25% in 2022's top-two primary but squeaked through because a crowd of Republican challengers — including Trump-endorsed Loren Culp — split the Make America Great Again vote among them. Newhouse then routed Democrat Doug White in the general election.
This year's race includes the three Republicans, plus three Democrats; an independent; and a self-described "MAGA Democrat." Ballots are due Aug. 6.
The Democratic Party hasn't coalesced behind a 4th District candidate, so there's a chance Sessler or Smiley will advance with Newhouse to the November ballot. If that happens, blue voters could help the red incumbent.
"He's probably the most moderate of the three," White said in a recent interview. "My expectation is he's going to swing a lot of Democratic votes."
The Republicans
A third-generation Yakima Valley farmer whose 850-acre spread near Sunnyside grows hops, fruit and alfalfa, Newhouse, 69, previously served in the state Legislature and led the state Department of Agriculture.
He won a seat in Congress for the first time in 2014, casting himself as a conservative Republican willing to work across the aisle for a district that stretches from the Canadian border through Okanogan, Moses Lake, Yakima and the Tri Cities to the Columbia River. Newhouse says high prices are top of mind for the district's 417,000 active voters right now, with increases making it difficult to buy farm supplies and household necessities.
"The high cost of gas and groceries and everything," he said. "Those are the pocketbook issues people are really concerned with."
Newhouse has championed a bipartisan bill that would revise regulations for agricultural guest workers while giving undocumented farmworkers a path to legal status. Meanwhile, he's accused the Biden administration of failing to stop drugs from pouring across the Mexican border and slammed Chinese leaders for fueling the U.S. fentanyl crisis. When asked about his recent work in Congress, he cited efforts to watchdog the Chinese Communist Party.
Republicans vie for Central Washington congressional seat
Republican candidates Tiffany Smiley and Jerrod Sessler are challenging GOP incumbent Dan Newhouse in Washington's 4th Congressional District, which includes Douglas, Okanogan, Grant, Yakima, Benton and Klickitat counties
Source: Washington State Redistricting Commission (Mark Nowlin / The Seattle Times)
Sessler, 54, is a Prosser-based former race car driver, Navy veteran and entrepreneur who garnered 12.3% in 2022's 4th Congressional District primary. This year, he's endorsed by Trump and the state Republican Party, while Newhouse is backed by the Mainstream Republicans of Washington, a less-prominent group that represents the moderate wing of the GOP.
The 2020 presidential election was illegitimate, the Jan. 6 attack was a setup, human-driven climate change is a "fallacy" and the 16th Amendment (federal income tax) should be abolished, Sessler said in an interview. He says Central Washington voters care most about the economy and security; they don't feel safe anymore, he says, partly due to Biden's border policies.
"I'm being called the gladiator in this race," Sessler added, vowing to defend traditional U.S. values, which he said are Christian and conservative.
Smiley didn't enter the contest until Trump and the state GOP had already endorsed Sessler, but she could benefit from her wider name recognition. She spent $20 million trying to unseat U.S. Sen. Patty Murray in 2022.
The Pasco-based former nurse, 43, describes herself as a veterans advocate who battled government bureaucracy to help her husband after he was blinded by a suicide car bomb while serving with the U.S. Army in Iraq.
Smiley travels the country giving talks about her family's story and appears regularly as a political commentator on cable news shows. She calls Newhouse a "professional politician who hasn't solved a single problem."
Like Newhouse and Sessler, Smiley says Biden's border security is a major problem. Like her GOP rivals, she wants to preserve the Snake River dams that provide power and irrigation, rather than breaching them to aid salmon.
"We need Donald Trump's policies to unleash American [energy] independence and drive down gas prices," Smiley said in an interview.
Signaling he may view Smiley as his top threat, Newhouse released a TV ad last week that claims Smiley "deceived" donors to an organization she founded after losing to Murray. As Smiley said Endeavor PAC would boost "political outsiders" across the country, she earmarked donations to pay off her own 2022 campaign debt, disclosing that in fine print.
The Democrats
Democrats are always underdogs in the 4th Congressional District — especially this year because a huge amount of Republican cash is on its way, said White, who notched 31% against Newhouse in 2022. The last Democrat to hold the district was now-Gov. Jay Inslee, who lost in 1994.
Newhouse and Smiley will raise a lot of money, White predicted, whereas the state Democratic Party "is not allocating substantial resources" to any specific challenger at this point, a party spokesperson said. Newhouse has raised more than $1.5 million since the start of 2023, while Smiley has raised more than $575,000 since entering the race in May. Sessler has raised more than $400,000, including about $300,000 of his own money.
Democrat Mary Baechler decided to run at the last minute to make sure there would be someone on the ballot aligned with voters who care about climate change and reproductive rights, she said in an interview.
"The thing that really drove me was thinking, 'Who are the kids going to vote for?'" said Baechler, who once ran a Yakima-based baby stroller company and who ran for the 4th Congressional District seat unsuccessfully in 2012.
Now working in public health, Baechler, 68, thinks Trump Republicans want to stop abortions altogether, "and that means women dying," she said.
Baechler may split the district's Democratic vote with another late entrant, "Birdie" Jane Muchlinski, who chairs the Benton County Democrats.
Muchlinski, 46, says she wants to protect reproductive rights and public education from right-wing attacks while helping the small businesses that buttress the region's big farms. Known in the Tri-Cities for her work on public safety, she's courting middle-of-the-road voters and hopes the state Dems will get more involved in the race if she advances past the primary.
The like-minded Democratic candidates are supporting each other rather than competing, Baechler said, calling Muchlinski a "wonderful" option. Baechler hasn't reported fundraising. Muchlinski has raised about $3,500.
Trump's shadow
Hoping to knock Newhouse out in the primary, Sessler and Smiley are advising voters to ditch the incumbent because they say he won't be able to work with the White House in a second Trump presidency.
Newhouse says that view sells Trump "a little short," objecting to the idea that Trump would "punish" his Central Washington constituents.
"We got a lot done when he was president. I worked very well with the executive branch. I see that continuing," Newhouse said.
Interviewed on June 20, before Biden's shaky debate, Newhouse said he would be supporting Trump over the current president. His campaign didn't reply to more recent requests for a follow-up interview.
"I can't vote for Biden, so Trump is our only other alternative," Newhouse said, making the case that his own angst reflects what many voters are feeling. "This is a difficult question for a lot of people."
Sessler and Smiley may split the right-wing vote, like Sessler and Culp did last time. Newhouse thinks GOP anger over his 2021 impeachment vote has ebbed.
"That was 3 1/2 years ago and a tremendous amount of things have happened," the incumbent said.
With the presidential election looming and Trump headed back to the ballot, however, Sessler and Smiley are betting on another MAGA surge.
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