Representative Dan Newhouse once voted for Trump's impeachment. Now Trump is paying him back. But Newhouse is combative.
Washington, DC - Representative Dan Newhouse (Washington) is one of a dying breed in Congress: Of the ten Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to impeach Donald Trump after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, only nor Newhouse and another MP in Parliament.
If Trump has his way, that won't be the case for long. The former president last week endorsed Jerrod Sessler, a conservative Republican who has never held public office but is challenging Newhouse again in the race for Washington state's Fourth District.
In a post on his social media page Truth Social, Trump wrote that all-time MAGA man Sessler had his full support. Sessler will never let his people down. Newhouse, Trump said, “has to go.”
Newhouse declined to comment
in an interview with The
Washington Post
. However, he expressed optimism that he would be successful. “I’m going to win,” Newhouse said. “I will work as hard as I can.”
Trump has long sought revenge on some Republicans
Of the ten Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted with the Democrats for impeachment proceedings against Trump after the storming of the Capitol on January 6th, only Newhouse and David G. Valadao (California) still sit in the House of Representatives. Valadao faces a difficult general election in California's 22nd District - a district that President Joe Biden won by about 13 points in the US election four years ago.
Trump has long sought revenge against Republicans who turned against him after the attack on the Capitol. In 2022, four of the ten Republicans - Tom Rice (South Carolina), Jaime Herrera Beutler (Washington), Liz Cheney (Wyoming) and Peter Meijer (Michigan) - lost their primaries to challengers from the right.
Four others - Fred Upton (Michigan), John Katko (New York), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio) and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois) - withdrew. Only Newhouse and Valadao were able to retain their seats.
Upton — who did not run for re-election in 2022 after his Michigan district was redrawn in such a way that he would likely have been eliminated in the at-large election — told the
Washington Post
that he was certain Trump's decision to support Newhouse's challenger was more a matter of revenge.
Everyone, Upton said, had their own reason for voting the way they did regarding Trump's impeachment trial. “Some were concerned for their own safety. Some said, 'You know, this is what my district would want,' as opposed to what I may have seen firsthand," he said. “And some, frankly, were just afraid of this tyrant.”
Newhouse's district, Washington 4, is firmly in Republican hands. The congressman has won re-election there by wide margins since 2014, most recently in 2022 when he defeated his Democratic opponent by 35 points. Trump won the district by 19 points in 2020. These numbers likely make the primary a de facto general election.
Trump calls Newhouse a “RINO”
In his post on Truth Social, Trump called Newhouse a “weak and pathetic RINO” (“Republican in name only”).
It's not the first time Sessler, a Navy veteran and businessman, has challenged Newhouse. In 2022, Sessler and five other Republicans tried to unseat Newhouse, a farmer, but Newhouse prevailed. This time, however, Sessler is the only candidate challenging Newhouse in the GOP primary.
In a post he published on X following Trump's endorsement, Sessler wrote that he was deeply honored. Online, Sessler often shares messages from some of the far-right members of Congress and touts his qualities as a political hothead.
In an interview with
The Post
last month, Newhouse said many of his moderate Republican colleagues in the House were leaving Congress, citing their inability to work together and reach successful legislative deals. In addition, he still has unfinished business in the House of Representatives and will not allow himself to be discouraged by the extreme wing of his party.
“I still have some things I want to achieve, some issues that are important to me. It's a difficult environment, but it's always hard, it's never easy to get laws passed," he said. “One of my biggest priorities is to make positive changes to our agricultural labor laws, and we have made progress. I don't want to leave until this is done."
Upton expressed optimism about his former colleague's chances and said he believes Newhouse is the type of lawmaker who should stay in Congress.
“He has an impeccable record. He is as honest as the day is long. “He is the type of person voters should have in a position of responsibility like a member of Congress,” Upton said. “He will be able to sell it well at home. But it's probably going to be a tough few months. And the personal question arises: Is it worth it?”
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on April 18, 2024 at the “Washingtonpost.com” - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.