Southwest Washington’s new representative in Congress will start with a new name.
Rep.-elect Jaime Herrera, R-Camas, made it official on Wednesday: She will add the surname of her husband, Daniel, and go by the full name of Jaime Herrera Beutler (pronounced “Butler”).
She will go by Congresswoman Herrera Beutler, a news release said.
She explained the switch didn’t make sense during a hectic campaign for the 3rd District House seat — not after broadcast reports and news articles, public documents and countless campaign signs, ads and fliers had already cemented her public name.
“Now that the dust from the campaign has settled, I’ve had the chance to thoughtfully consider and make a permanent choice regarding this personal decision about my family,” she said in her release.
Herrera and Beutler were married in August 2009.
Herrera Beutler follows the path of her former Washington, D.C. boss: U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, who also tacked on her husband’s name following marriage.
She also travels the path — almost literally — of former 3rd District Congresswoman Julia Butler Hansen, a Cathlamet Democrat who served in 1960-75.
