Rep. Dan Newhouse, one of the two remaining Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump after his supporters rioted at the Capitol in 2021, finished second to a Trump-backed challenger in Tuesday’s primary in Washington.
Newhouse will still be on the November ballot, however, because Washington’s primaries nominate the top two finishers in a primary regardless of party. Defeating another Republican with Trump at the top of the ticket, however, will be a much more difficult task for Newhouse than he faced in 2022.
Voters in Washington races also chose nominees for open seats in the Republican-leaning 5th District and the Democratic-leaning 6th District and set a rematch in a battleground 3rd District race, where Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is one of five Democrats representing a district that backed Trump over Joe Biden in 2020.
Here’s a rundown of the results:
Newhouse beaten by Sessler
Navy veteran and former NASCAR driver Jerrod Sessler finished first in the eight-candidate race in the 4th District. He had 31 percent of the vote to Newhouse’s 25 percent after 7 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, when the race was called by The Associated Press.
Newhouse was one of 10 members of the House GOP conference who voted to impeach Trump. When Newhouse sought reelection in 2022, six Republicans, including Sessler, ran in the primary against him. That divided his opposition in the party and gave the second spot on the November ballot to a Democrat, who Newhouse then beat by a more than 2-to-1 ratio. This year, there were only two Republican opponents.
Trump took to Truth Social over the weekend to blast Newhouse, calling him “a weak and pathetic RINO…who stupidly voted to impeach me for absolutely no reason.” Trump had backed Sessler earlier in the campaign, and his recent post also threw his support behind Tiffany Smiley, the loser of the 2022 Senate race who had 19 percent of the vote when Tuesday’s primary was called. Three Democrats and two independents got the rest of the vote.
The results mean 50 percent of Republicans chose someone other than Newhouse, and if they vote the same way in November, Newhouse’s only chance of victory would be for Democrats to support him over the Trump-backed opponent.
Newhouse had a cash advantage going into the primary, raising $1.6 million to Smiley’s $720,000 and Sessler’s $409,000. His campaign was boosted by the Defending Main Street super PAC and Clearpath Action Fund, which supports Republican candidates who back nuclear energy, natural gas and carbon capture programs.
Rematch set between Kent, Gluesenkamp Perez
A rematch is set in a southwest Washington battleground district between a Trump-backed Republican, Joe Kent, and Gluesenkamp Perez, a Blue Dog Democrat with working-class roots.
Just after 11:19 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, when the AP called the race, Gluesenkamp Perez was ahead with almost 47 percent of the vote. Kent came in second, with 38 percent. Republican Leslie Lewallen, a member of the Camas City Council, and independent John Saulie-Rohman also were on the primary ballot.
The race, rated a Toss-up by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, is among the nation’s most competitive and could be instrumental in determining which party controls the House. Biden lost the district by 4.3 percentage points in 2020.
Gluesenkamp Perez has raised $6.7 million and had $3.8 million on hand as of July 17. Kent, who lost the 2022 contest by less than 3,000 votes, raised $1.3 million and had $585,000 on hand.
Gluesenkamp Perez has cast herself as an independent-minded moderate. The freshman lawmaker was one of two Democrats to break with her party and vote to overturn Biden’s student loan relief plan and, earlier this summer, she called on Biden not just to drop his reelection campaign but suggested he also resign from office due to concerns about his age and health.
Kent has received support from Protect Freedom PAC, which is affiliated with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. He also has the endorsement of Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., the former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.
Baumgartner, Conroy advance in 5th District
Republican Michael Baumgartner, the Spokane County treasurer, secured a place in November’s election, and will face Democrat Carmela Conroy.
They are vying for the seat currently held by Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who announced in February that she wouldn’t seek an 11th term. The race is rated Solid Republican by Inside Elections.
Baumgartner had 29 percent of the vote when The Associated Press said he would be advancing to November. Conroy, a retired diplomat, came in second in the 11-candidate field with nearly 20 percent of the vote.
Close race for Kilmer seat
Democrat Emily Randall and Republican Drew C. MacEwen, both state senators, won the primary for the open seat in the 6th District and will face each other in November.
When that race was called Wednesday evening, Randall had nearly 34 percent of the vote to MacEwen’s 31 percent, with 26 percent backing Democrat Hillary Franz, the state’s commissioner of public lands.
The district, which includes most of Tacoma and the Olympic Peninsula, has been represented by Democratic Rep. Derek Kilmer since 2013. Kilmer, who said last year he would not run again, won in 2022 with 60 percent of the vote, and Inside Elections rates the race as Solid Democratic.
The contest attracted $2.4 million in outside spending, all but $55,000 of it going to support Randall. That included $1.5 million from Protect Progress, a super PAC backed by the cryptocurrency industry. Franz’s campaign tried to tie Randall to two of the fund’s backers, billionaires Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who recently endorsed Trump.
Franz and Randall both have secured high-profile endorsements from prominent Democrats: Franz has the backing of Kilmer and former Rep. Norm Dicks and was endorsed by The Seattle Times. Randall has the support of BOLD PAC, the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Equality PAC and Sen. Patty Murray.
Republican Goers to face Schrier
Democratic Rep. Kim Schrier, who was a GOP target in 2020 and 2022, will defend the 8th District seat against Republican Carmen Goers, a commercial banker and volunteer who came in second in Tuesday’s all-party primary.
After the AP called the race shortly after polls closed, Schrier had 52 percent of the vote and Goers had 44 percent. Schrier entered the primary with $3.3 million in her campaign account, while Goers had $5,000.
The race is rated Likely Democratic by Inside Elections. Biden won the district in 2020 by 7.2 percentage points.
Schrier and Goers beat out two other Democrats, Keith Arnold and Imraan Siddiqi.
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