Newhouse to face Democrat challenger for 4th Congressional seat in November

Rep. Dan Newhouse will face Tri-Cities attorney Doug McKinley in the general election Nov. 3.

Newhouse, a Sunnyside Republican, is seeking his fourth term in the U.S. House.

He was opposed by five challengers from four different political parties in the Tuesday primary.

Newhouse received 56% of the votes counted Tuesday night, or 49,608. McKinley received 28% of the votes, or 24,370,

They were the top two vote-getters in all eight counties of the 4th Congressional District — Benton, Franklin, Adams, Douglas, Grant, Okanogan, Walla Walla and Yakima.

Sarena Sloot, a Kennewick nurse practitioner, and Tracy “Justice” Wright, a Grand Coulee consultant, each received just under 6% of the votes counted Tuesday night. Sloot had 5,250 votes and Wright had 4,918 votes. Both are Republicans.

Ryan Cooper, a Pasco Libertarian, and Evan “Ev” Jones, a Richland Independent, each received about 2% of the votes. Cooper had 1,809 votes and Jones had 1,769 votes Tuesday night.

Newhouse

Newhouse calls himself a conservative problem solver who cuts bureaucratic red tape.

“We have had many achievements during this past year,” he said in a statement Tuesday evening. “Yet, we have serious economic challenges that lie ahead. I continue to be committed to doing everything I can to help Central Washingtonians safely return to work and reopen their businesses.”

He has been a successful advocate for funding for environmental cleanup of the Hanford nuclear reservation.

He also has been a proponent of protecting the lower Snake River hydroelectric dams from breaching, saying that dams and salmon can coexist.

A third-generation farmer, he’s worked on water issues, including the Yakima and Columbia Basin projects.

He has voted Trump’s position the majority of the time.

But he was one of just seven House Republicans to vote for the Dream and Promise Act in 2019, a reform package that would give permanent legal status to “Dreamers,” immigrants who entered the U.S. as children, as well as immigrants stuck in legal limbo under the Temporary Protected Status program, reported the Spokesman-Review.

McKinley

McKinley also filed against Newhouse in 2016 but did not advance past the primary. He ran unsuccessfully against state Sen. Sharon Brown, R-Kennewick, in 2014.

He thanked his supporters Tuesday night, posting on social media that “you are the patriots who understand and insist that America can do better.”

McKinley said in his voter’s guide statement that the district can continue to follow Newhouse and President Donald Trump down the same path that led to massive unemployment and a crippled economy, both today and in the start of the Great Depression.

He supports “big, bold actions by the federal government” that will put Americans back to work and will create the right incentives so that American workers get a bigger piece of the economic pie that they create.

He called for affordable basic healthcare, not tied to a job; affordable college; a transition to clean energy and immigration reform that keeps families together.

This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 9:35 PM.