DOUGLAS COUNTY, Wash. — Republican Dan Newhouse who is running for the U.S. District 4 seat currently leads his opponent in the race despite a Trump-backed effort to oust him from Congress.
Currently, Newhouse is in the lead with 51% of the vote, with Jerrod Sessler trailing behind with 48%. However, there are still votes left to be counted and the race is still too close to call, so it remains to be seen what the ultimate impact of Trump's endorsement will be.
Newhouse was one of only 10 Republican representatives to vote to impeach Trump following the Capitol Riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Supporters of Trump, who had just lost the 2020 election, flooded the Capitol building in an attempt to stop the certification of the election results.
Reporting by Politico indicates that, in the years since that impeachment vote, Trump and his allies have sought to unseat Republican lawmakers who voted for his impeachment as they come up for re-election. He has succeeded in ousting several of them, including former Representative Jamie Herrera-Butler, who used to represent southwestern Washington.
In the 2024 race, Trump went so far as to endorse both Republican opponents who were challenging Newhouse in the primaries for a spot on the November ballot.
Just days before the August primary, Trump posted on Truth Social that "Newhouse has to go," offering endorsements for both Sessler and Tiffany Smiley for the District 4 seat.
Sessler has come under fire in recent weeks for comments he made in an interview to the Yakima-Herald Republic, indicating that he didn't believe Muslim people should be able to serve in Congress. Following a request for comment, he doubled down on those remarks.
The Washington chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement to the paper in response saying Sessler's "attempts to discredit (American Muslim candidates)" are not only "baseless" but also "an affront to the core values of religious freedom and democracy that define this nation."
The state Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh when asked about Sessler's remarks did not address them directly, instead saying, “I'm encouraged by the growing number of Muslims in Washington who are getting involved in public policy to protect children and families, and to defend constitutional rights to property, religious liberty and free speech.”
Neither Sessler nor Newhouse have commented on the election results so far, or Trump's re-election to the White House.