The political future of Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose 4th Congressional district surrounds the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, faces a big hurdle Tuesday during an open primary, his first electoral test since casting one of 10 GOP votes in the House of Representatives to impeach former president Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash), who represents the third district, is in the same boat. Like Newhouse, she holds a seat on the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee.
Newhouse, has served in the House since January 2015 and seven challengers, six of them Republicans, in an all-party primary designed to winnow the field to the two candidates who will square off in the November general election. The GOP challengers include Loren Culp, who claimed 43% of the vote in an unsuccessful run for governor against Jay Inslee (D) in 2020.
Herrera Beutler, who has been in congress since January 2011, faces a field of eight challengers, half of them Republicans. A Politico report on Monday said her toughest foe might be Joe Kent, a Trump-backed candidate whose campaign website describes him as a U.S. Army combat veteran whose wife “was killed fighting ISIS in Syria.”
A third GOP incumbent who voted in favor of impeachment, Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich) from Michigan’s third district, also faces a primary on Tuesday.
