Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., has survived another Trump-endorsed primary challenge in his bid for re-election, qualifying for November’s general election. But his path to victory isn’t a given yet: he now faces fellow Republican Jerrod Sessler in November, who former President Donald Trump endorsed in April, in a GOP-versus-GOP clash.
Sessler, a former NASCAR driver and Navy veteran, received the greatest amount of votes in the August primary, winning 31% when The Associated Press called the race Thursday. Newhouse came in second, receiving nearly 25% of the vote so far, with more mail ballots still to count.
Newhouse is one of just two House Republicans who voted to impeach him following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. If Sessler wins the November election with Trump’s support, it would drive that number down again.
“There is no question that Trump’s endorsement is important in that district,” said Dr. Cornell Clayton, Director of Washington State University’s Thomas S. Foley Institute of Public Policy and Service.
Indeed, Trump exerted his influence multiple times on the race so far, endorsing not just one but two candidates in the primary. On Aug. 3, just five days before the all-party primary, the former president also endorsed Tiffany Smiley, a Republican who came onto the state’s political scene after a failed run for Senate against Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.
“The dual endorsement that happened was disappointing to us, but we also have been in communications with the Trump team, and so we understood why they were doing it, and it really had nothing to do with us, and frankly, had very little to do with Tiffany Smiley,” Sessler told NBC News Wednesday, before the primary was called. “It was late enough in the race that, thankfully, I don’t know that it really had much of an effect on the outcome of the primary, which we won decisively last night.”
Alex Hayes, a longtime GOP strategist in Washington state, said that the delayed Trump endorsement had nothing to do with Smiley’s third-place performance, but strategic faults in the campaign itself.
“There was a lot of this highly deceptive self-promotion,” he said.
Even though Newhouse’s opponents and some experts said that the endorsements were a big factor in the race, Newhouse said just the opposite.
“I’m not sure that the endorsement of two of my opponents by the former president really changed anything,” Newhouse said in a press conference on election night.
“Based on what we’ve been able to see so far, I’m feeling very good and optimistic,” he said. “I think we were successful in our goals here and now we’ve got to look forward to November.”
Though optimistic, it still looks like Newhouse is bound for a tough race. Trump has carried this district repeatedly, though Newhouse has also won several terms and could carry a coalition of moderate Republicans and non-Trump voters.
Sessler said he will continue to speak out to voters on top of mind issues such as the economy and crime with “full throttle support from former President Trump.”
“The incumbent has made his own bed, and he knows exactly what I’m going to do.”
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