GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump stumped Thursday evening for the opponent of one of the last remaining U.S. House Republicans who voted to impeach him after the Jan. 6 riots.
Conservatives already have solid control over the 4th Congressional District in Central Washington, but the former president still took time out of his busy schedule to remind Republicans why they should vote for Jerrod Sessler over the five-term incumbent, Dan Newhouse.
Both are Republicans and will face off in the Nov. 5 general election. Ballots have been mailed to registered voters.
“Dan Newhouse is really a liberal, when you think of it,” Trump said, trying to tie Newhouse’s voting record to the Biden Administration’s agenda. “I guess most would call him a RINO, I’d say he’s far left of a RINO.”
“I just want to see Jerrod Sessler get in and he’s going to be fantastic. We’re going to work to seal the border, stop the invasion of criminals at a level we’ve never seen before coming into our country, and begin the largest deportation of these criminals in American history,” the former president continued.
The Trump campaign held a 15-minute telephone rally Thursday evening in support of Sessler, the former regional circuit NASCAR driver and U.S. Navy veteran, who’s trying a second time to oust Newhouse. He previously ran in 2022, but placed fourth in Washington’s jungle primary.
Trump took the opportunity to urge Central Washington to support he and Sessler as voters begin to turn in their ballots.
“We will not disappoint you. You’ll look back and you’ll say, ‘This is one of the best votes — two votes — we’ve ever given,” he said.
Trump also touched on tax cuts for workers, his “no tax on tips” proposal, plans to cancel electric vehicle mandates, cut regulations and a vow to “prevent World War III.” He said a second Trump Administration would also cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, and that he would work to “keep men out of women’s sports.”
He also took time to shoot down recent advertisements from the Newhouse campaign that highlighted Sessler’s history of support for the FairTax Act, which would replace all federal taxes with a blanket 30% sales tax.
“He’s playing dirty pool,” Trump said. “He just made this statement that Jerrod’s going to raise your taxes by 30% or 35%, and it was just made up out of clear blue. It’s just like Kamala (Harris) saying that Trump is gonna not drill for oil — ‘he doesn’t want to drill for oil, he doesn’t want to drill for liquid oil and he doesn’t want to frack.’”
Trump said Sessler would be a “phenomenal congressman for Washington’s 4th Congressional District.” Sessler, in turn, vowed to be “the best ally that President Trump has in Washington D.C.”
“Newhouse voted to impeach President Trump and for the Jan. 6 commission, but that isn’t the main reason we need to retire Newhouse,” Sessler said. “President Trump is going to win on Tuesday, and he deserves a congressman and a Congress that will fully support his agenda and make America great.”
WA-04 and the Nov. 5 election
Trump on Tuesday also doubled-down on his endorsement of Sessler in posts to social media, calling Newhouse a “weak and pathetic RINO,” or Republican in name only, “who voted to, for no reason, impeach me.”
“He wished he didn’t do what he did, but it’s too late, and besides that, he didn’t represent the people nearly as well as Jerrod will. Jerrod will do an incredible job — he is MAGA all the way, and has my complete and total endorsement,” Trump wrote.
Sessler recently backed out of two planned TV debates after making a late request to include a write-in candidate, Democrat Cherissa Boyd. Oddly enough, the Sessler campaign in recent weeks has been promoting Boyd as a viable candidate, hoping to peel away enough Democratic votes from Newhouse to secure a victory.
With Sessler out, KNDU and the Tri-City Herald canceled one of the debates. The other, on KIMA Action News, went on as a 30-minute forum that hosted Newhouse on Monday.
The Sunnyside Republican said Sessler “is not from here, he doesn’t really understand all the issues and challenges we have in Central Washington.” Sessler is originally from Burien, King County.
Newhouse is one of the last two remaining U.S. House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for fomenting the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol building. The other Republican, U.S. Rep. David Valadao, is seeking reelection to his seat in a tight toss-up race in Central California.
Trump also helped out another Washington candidate this week.
On Tuesday, he held a similar telephone rally with Republican Joe Kent, a candidate hoping to oust Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in Southwest Washington.
Washington’s 4th Congressional District stretches from the U.S.-Canada border down to the Columbia River, and includes the Tri-Cities, Omak, East Wenatchee, Moses Lake, Yakima and the Yakama Indian Reservation.
It is the state’s most Republican-leaning congressional district. A majority of its votes have gone for Republican presidential candidates every cycle since Richard Nixon in 1968. But it also narrowly elected a young Jay Inslee as its congressman in 1992.
