Rep. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., avoided another Trump-endorsed primary challenge as he ran for re-election, qualifying for November’s general election. But her path to victory has yet to be determined: She now faces Republican Jerrod Sessler, who former President Donald Trump endorsed in November in a GOP-GOP showdown in April.
Sessler, a former NASCAR driver and Navy veteran, won 31% of the vote in the August primary when The Associated Press announced the race Thursday. Newhouse has come second with about 25% of the vote so far, with more postal ballots to be counted.
Newhouse is one of two House Republicans who voted to impeach him after the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. If Sessler wins the November election with Trump’s support, he will lower that number again.
Director of Washington State University’s Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Service, Dr. “There is no doubt that Trump’s support is important in this region,” said Cornell Clayton.
Indeed, Trump has repeatedly influenced the race to date, endorsing not just one, but two candidates in the primaries. On August 3, just five days before the all-party primary, the former president also endorsed Republican Tiffany Smiley, who burst onto the state’s political scene after an unsuccessful Senate race against Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.
“We’re disappointed by the dual confirmation that happened, but we’ve also been in touch with the Trump team, and so we understand why they did it, and it had nothing to do with us, and frankly, very little. Do it with Tiffany Smiley,” Sessler told NBC News before Wednesday’s preliminary call. “It’s late enough in the race that I don’t know that it really had much of an impact on the primary, which thankfully we won decisively last night.”
Alex Hayes, a longtime GOP strategist in Washington state, said Trump’s delayed endorsement had nothing to do with Smiley’s third-place finish, but strategic mistakes in the campaign itself.
“It was a lot of highly deceptive self-promotion,” he said.
While Newhouse’s opponents and some pundits say endorsements are a big factor in the race, Newhouse said the opposite is true.
“I’m not sure that having two of my opponents endorsed by a former president really made a difference,” Newhouse said at an election night news conference.
“Based on what we’ve seen so far, I feel very good and optimistic,” he said. “I think we have achieved our goals here and now we have to look forward to November.”
Although optimistic, Newhouse still faces a tough race. Trump has carried the district multiple times, although Newhouse has also won several times and could carry a coalition of moderate Republicans and non-Trump voters.
Sessler said he will continue to speak to voters on key issues such as the economy and crime “with the full support of former President Trump.”
“The current president has made his bed and knows exactly what I’m going to do.”