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: In November, he will face fellow Republican Jerrod Sessler, whom former President Donald Trump endorsed in April, in a GOP-versus-GOP clash.
Sessler, a former NASCAR driver and Navy veteran, got the most votes in the August primary, having won 31% when The Associated Press called the race Thursday. Newhouse came in second, at nearly 25% so far, with more mail ballots still to count.
Newhouse is one of just two House Republicans left who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. If Sessler wins the 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 Cornell Clayton, director of Washington State University’s Thomas S. Foley Institute of Public Policy and Service.
Indeed, Trump has exerted his influence multiple times on the race so far, endorsing not just one but two candidates in the primary. On Saturday, just five days before the all-party primary, he also endorsed Tiffany Smiley, a Republican who came onto the state’s political scene after a failed run for the 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 on 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 the delayed Trump endorsement had to do not with Smiley’s third-place performance but with 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 the endorsements were a big factor, Newhouse said just the opposite.
“I’m not sure that the endorsement of two of my opponents by the former president really changed anything,” he said at a news 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 he is optimistic, it still looks like Newhouse is bound for a tough race. Trump has carried the 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 about 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,” he said.