When one of the two Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump in 2021, Washington Rep. Dan Newhouse, announced his retirement, it opened up a rare electoral opportunity for Republicans in a deeply blue state. But it also raised questions about the party's conventional wisdom about elections when it comes to the kind of conservative candidate who can take his place.
Washington's 4th Congressional District is its most conservative. Trump handily won in 2024 and the Cook Political Report rates the district as solidly Republican. Even with a big Trump win in 2024, Newhouse managed to hold onto his seat. He faced Trump-endorsed primary challengers in both of the past two elections.
Without Newhouse on the ballot, it's a crowded race to find his replacement and a case study in just what Republican voters — who previously picked someone who impeached the president — will do now that the field is open.
Republicans in Yakima, one of the district's only cities, are encouraged by the opportunity.
"This district has an opportunity to elect some of the most conservative candidates we've had," said Matt Brown, mayor of Yakima and chair of the Yakima County Republicans.
The shape of the race mirrors other Republican primaries throughout the nation. The top three candidates exemplify three distinct arms of the Republican Party. Yakima County Commissioner Amanda McKinney has been endorsed by Trump. Jerrod Sessler, a businessman and former candidate, is positioning himself as the anti-establishment outsider. Republican state Sen. Matt Boehnke is more moderate, in the same style as Newhouse.
The decision voters make on Aug. 4 will signal which direction they want the Republican Party to head in a district that is rural, conservative, heavily dependent on agriculture and energy production and that is more than 40% Latino. In Washington's primary system, the top two candidates, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the general election.
John Duresky, an Air Force veteran and former government employee who retired after DOGE notified him that his job would be eliminated, is the sole Democrat in the race. Duresky is expected to advance to the general, leaving the top three Republicans fighting for the final spot.
Trump's influence
The president has already placed his thumb on the scale by endorsing McKinney, calling her an "America First Patriot" and saying that she would "grow" the economy, lower "migrant crime," reduce red tape regulations and lower taxes. He ended the endorsement with his signature phrase.
"Amanda McKinney has my Complete and Total Endorsement," the post read. "SHE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN."
She also has the endorsement of House Speaker Mike Johnson.
McKinney, whose campaign team declined NPR's interview request but said to "connect after the Aug 4th primary" has described herself in other interviews with local news outlets as an America First and MAGA Republican.
McKinney stood by Newhouse following his vote to impeach Trump, even though she said she disagreed with the decision. She endorsed him in 2024.
But a few days after Newhouse announced he planned to retire, McKinney participated on a panel at AmericaFest, a convention hosted by the conservative organization Turning Point USA, and said Newhouse was the reason she was running for Congress.
"My congressman voted for impeachment and I knew that I needed to find a way to retire him," she told the crowd. "I decided to create a strategy to retire him."
While she did not elaborate on that strategy, distancing herself from Newhouse proved advantageous when it came to Trump's backing. During a candidate forum hosted by the Yakima Women's Republican Club that NPR attended, McKinney proudly claimed she was the only Trump endorsed candidate in the race.
But Trump's endorsement doesn't bring certainty. A Trump-backed candidate has never won in the district, even though voters here also support the president.
"In Washington state, I'm not convinced that the only thing voters are looking for is whether they're endorsed by President Trump or not. And I think it's been proven," Matt Brown, the Yakima County Republican Party chair said. "I mean, look at all the people that have had that endorsement and it hasn't played out in their favor."
Sessler, the businessman, is running again after unsuccessful campaigns in 2022 and 2024. Even though Sessler lost with Trump's endorsement in 2024, Sessler said Trump's support carries a "tremendous" amount of weight in the district.
"The landscape is different in every race, but I wouldn't have won the primary [in 2024] by ten plus percent if it wasn't for President Trump's endorsement. So, it's incredibly important," Sessler said in an interview with NPR at his home.
But he admits that it's not a silver bullet. A candidate, he argued, can't coast on the endorsement alone. He added that candidates also have to do the hard campaign work.
"If you're going to sit around and think you can just buy a race by sending out postcards and taking pictures and, you know, making TV commercials, like I just don't see it," Sessler said, referring to McKinney who has been criticized for turning down interviews, debates and public forums ahead of the primary.
Sessler pointed out that Trump's approval in the district has "waned a little bit" over the last few months due to the "the Iran situation, the Israel situation, the Russia Ukraine situation." In the same sentence, he defended the president, arguing Trump doesn't get credit for "all the great things he does."
"But the reality is, there's propaganda out there that wants people to not like President Trump," he said.
Trump faces low approval rates nationwide and in the most recent NPR/PBS News/Marist poll, his support with rural voters was underwater by 10 percentage points.
A familiar looking race
The Republican Party is facing a future without President Trump on the ballot, beyond 2026, and races like this one in Washington can signal in what direction the party is moving. Despite the seat being red, it's clear the top conservative candidates understand the kind of Republican who has been elected here in the past decade.
In contrast to other Trump endorsed candidates in competitive primary races throughout this election season, who are often loyal to the president at every turn, McKinney has signaled a willingness to buck her party when necessary.
In an interview with KIMA, a Yakima TV news station, McKinney said she is willing to cooperate with members of Congress that she doesn't agree with.
"I'm not here to be an obstructionist. I'm not here to drop bombs. I'm here to get work done. And I'm here to make people feel like they have someone fighting for them," she said.
Boehnke, the state senator, has the most experience working across party lines to pass legislation; it's something he was known for while serving in a Democratic supermajority legislature.
"I feel this need to try to bring back the moderate voice and what we talk about in politics and do it in a civil way," Boehnke told NPR in an interview.
He added that he'd like to build off Newhouse's legacy to continue to protect agriculture, address water issues and invest in critical infrastructure at the Hanford site, a decommissioned nuclear production complex that helped build atomic weapons.
While Boehnke voted for Trump three times, he told NPR he wouldn't hesitate to disagree with the president. Boehnke, who served in the military for 21 years, said he's seen politicians blindly follow orders "in dictatorships in other countries across the globe." Boehnke said he respects Trump and would rather have a cordial conversation about their approaches to a policy if it came down to it.
He views this race as an opportunity to get America back on track and he believes he's the man for the job.
"I think it'll tell you if we're going to continue down this divide or if we're going to unite," Boehnke said.
Sessler, though, is going in the opposite direction, branding himself as the anti-establishment candidate. Unlike McKinney and state Sen. Boehnke, Sessler has never held an elected office. He's using that to his advantage with voters.
"We have made it a habit of electing people that are more interested in their political resume than in serving the people. And I want to change that," Sessler said.
He added that he isn't a politician, he's a "regular guy who raised a family, built a business from the ground up, got to experience politics from that side and see how we were being ripped off."
Democrats, too, see a glimmer of hope despite the seat being unlikely to be competitive after the primary. Because of the division among Republican voters when it comes to the numerous candidates on the ballot, Duresky, the likely Democratic nominee, argues the district is winnable if Democrats invest in rural areas.
"You win exactly zero races that you don't compete in. That simple. We can't build a durable electoral majority without rural America. We can't build a durable coalition without working class Americans," he said in an interview with NPR.
The district hasn't had a viable democratic candidate in a while. Duresky isn't a progressive Democrat. He labels himself a pragmatist who isn't dogmatic on any issue. He mostly wants to help correct what he sees as the wrongs Trump has inflicted on the district.
There is no doubt that Duresky has an uphill battle, but he hopes the race sends a message to the national Democratic Party about the direction it should head.
"We have got to find a way to communicate in these rural areas, and we've got to run like they matter to us," he said.
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