Rep. Dan Newhouse appears set to serve a 4th term in Congress

Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., appears to be set to serve a fourth term in the U.S. Congress.

He took 65% of the vote, or 128,953 ballots counted Tuesday night, and challenger Doug McKinley took nearly 35% of the vote, or 68,381 ballots.

Newhouse did better in Benton and Franklin counties than in his home county of Yakima in the votes that had been counted Tuesday night.

Newhouse had nearly 67% of the vote in Benton County, 65% of the vote in Franklin County and 59% of the vote in Yakima County Tuesday night.

In the primary this year, Newhouse took 57% of the vote and McKinley took 26%.

McKinley also opposed Newhouse in the 2016, but Newhouse and Republican Clint Didier, now a Franklin County commissioner, were on the November ballot that year.

Newhouse, a Sunnyside farmer, brings experience in agriculture to Congress and has been active in immigration issues, including supporting the Dream and Promise Act to give legal status to students who were brought to the United States as children.

He has been an advocate for funding Hanford nuclear reservation cleanup and has advocated both for maintaining the lower Snake River hydroelectric dams and for solving Yakima Basin water issues.

“As we look forward to the next Congress, the number one priority must be keeping our communities safe and healthy in the face of the ongoing pandemic as we work to reopen our economy as quickly as possible,” he said Tuesday night.

McKinley, a Richland Democrat, has worked as an attorney for 30 years.

He campaigned on making college affordable, immigration reform that keeps families together, creating incentives that make sure U.S. workers receive a bigger piece of the economic pie they create and basic, affordable health care that is not tied to a job.

This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 9:06 PM.