U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse gets another challenger from within his own party

Tiffany Smiley, a Republican who mounted an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate two years ago, on Monday jumped into the race to unseat GOP Congressman Dan Newhouse.

Newhouse has represented central Washington’s sprawling 4th Congressional District since 2015 and was among 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump in 2021, following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He’s one of just two GOP lawmakers among those 10 still in the chamber.

Trump has already weighed in on the race, slamming Newhouse and endorsing Republican Jerrod Sessler. Sessler, a Navy veteran, cancer survivor, and former race car driver bills himself as an “America First Patriot.” The Prosser resident also scored the Washington State Republican Party’s endorsement during its convention last month in Spokane.

Smiley, a former nurse, traces her involvement in politics to nearly 20 years ago when her husband, Scotty, was badly hurt and blinded by a suicide bomber while serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq. During Scotty’s recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Tiffany Smiley says she “experienced government dysfunction for the first time.”

“As hard as our experience was, the bureaucracy, the system, the swamp, the constant grandstanding from career politicians has somehow gotten worse,” she said in a campaign launch video released on Monday.

In the video, she goes on to lament the nation’s immigration policies, spending levels, crime, and living costs. “The best way for me to continue my work,” she said, “is inside Congress.”

A campaign manager for Newhouse didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Newhouse did file for reelection on Monday, as this week’s state candidate filing period began. 

The 4th Congressional District covers a band of the state on the east side of the Cascade Mountains, stretching from the Canadian border to the Columbia River, encompassing places like Omak, Moses Lake, the Tri-Cities and curling west into the area around White Salmon and the Yakama Indian Reservation.

Newhouse lately has been vocal against the Biden administration’s plan to reintroduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades. He’s also pushed to keep four hydropower dams in service on the Lower Snake River. Tribes and conservation groups have eyed the dams for removal as part of salmon restoration efforts. There’s no immediate plan to breach the dams.

Smiley ran against Patty Murray in 2022. She only claimed about 42% of the vote but raised around $21 million, in the ballpark of Murray’s campaign contributions that year. 

Reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show Newhouse with about $433,000 of cash on hand through March 31 and Sessler with about $3,700.

Newhouse, who lives in Sunnyside, describes himself as a third-generation Yakima Valley farmer. He served four terms as a state legislator in the Washington House of Representatives, representing the 15th Legislative District from 2003 to 2009.