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One of the last Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump for the January 6 insurrection is facing two primary challengers next week.
On August 6, Congressman Dan Newhouse will defend his seat in Washington’s Fourth District against two conservative opponents.
Mr. Newhouse is one of just two remaining Republicans in the House who voted to impeach Trump, the other being Congressman David Valadao of California. Potentially saving Mr. Newhouse, however, is the fact that he is facing two challengers instead of one. One challenger, Jerrod Sessler, ran in 2022 in a pro-Trump bid and another, Tiffany Smiley, ran unsuccessfully against Senator Murray in 2022.
Though there’s been no public polling in the district, the two challengers could effectively split the vote. It’s what happened in 2022 when Mr. Newhouse proceeded through Washington’s top-two multiparty primary with 26 percent of the vote.
That year, the Democratic challenger, Doug White, received 25 percent of the primary vote, proceeding to the general election. The two Republican challengers, Mr. Sessler and Loren Culp, received 12 percent and 22 percent of the vote respectively.
In 2022, Trump and his allies successfully primaried Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, who also represented a Washington seat, as well as seven other Republicans who voted to impeach.
In the race, Mr. Sessler has received the endorsement of Trump as well as the endorsement of the Washington State Republican Party.
In his endorsement of Mr. Sessler, Trump called Mr. Newhouse a “weak and pathetic RINO… who voted to, for no reason, impeach me.”
During the race, Trump has focused his ire on Mr. Newhouse, who has also failed to vote in accordance with Trump’s wishes, most recently after Republicans failed to push a measure aimed at defunding the criminal prosecutions of Trump through committee.
“It lost by only one vote, because one Republican, Mike Simpson of Idaho, stupidly voted NO, and two ‘Republicans,’ David Valadao of California and Dan Newhouse of Washington, the only two remaining impeachers in the House of President Donald J. Trump, didn’t show up to vote,” Trump said.
If Trump and his candidates are successful in pushing Mr. Newhouse out of their seat, Mr. Valadao will be the last remaining Republican in the House who voted to impeach Trump.
Mr. Valadao is a close ally of the former speaker, Kevin McCarthy, who endorsed Mr. Valadao in 2021, even after he voted for impeach ment.
In California, Mr. Valadao survived attacks from three primary challengers in the state’s March congressional primary and will face off against a Democratic challenger, Rudy Salas, in the November election.
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