Newhouse, Smiley take aim at each other. TV ads trade jabs in crowded 4th District race

Fourth Congressional District incumbent Dan Newhouse and challenger Tiffany Smiley are trading sharp jabs in their latest round of TV campaign ads.

It’s a preview of what’s likely to come if both Central Washington Republicans make it past the crowded Aug. 6 primary and advance to the general election.

The two candidates currently see each other as priority opponents in an eight-person race for the state’s most conservative congressional district.

Smiley also took aim at Newhouse and fellow Republican challenger Jerrod Sessler in a recent TV ad that featured a pair of Central Washington farmers.

In it, the farmers discussed how Newhouse voted to impeach former President Donald Trump and how Sessler, the Trump-endorsed candidate in the race, is a vegan and “wants to tax our beef.”

“There is only one choice and it’s Tiffany Smiley,” one farmer says.

Sessler called the claim that he wants to tax beef a “complete lie,” in a story published this week by the Spokesman Review , and said he has made an effort to eat fresh and raw food since he received a cancer diagnosis more than two decades ago.

Then, this week, Newhouse’s camp published an advertisement claiming Smiley “deceived” donors to Endeavor PAC, the political organization she founded to boost political outsiders after she was trounced by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray in the 2022 general election.

The ad claims that of the $800,000 her PAC raised, only $24,800 went to candidates.

The rest went to “luxury travel” and to pay off a more than $1 million debt she accrued as part of her Senate campaign; April 2024 filings with the FEC show Smiley has paid down the amount to about $460,000.

“Tiffany Smiley deceived her donors. Don’t let her deceive you,” a narrator said.

Both candidates also OK’d ads on a pair of political issues front and center to conservatives this cycle: the border and fentanyl.

One ad highlights Newhouse’s visit earlier this year to the border , declaring the congressman had a solution for “criminal illegals flooding our southern border, and fentanyl flooding our streets.”

“We need to keep pushing hard, working hard, to stop the illegal flow of people and the illegal flow of drugs,” Newhouse said in a Daily Wire interview featured in the ad.

From the banks of the Columbia River, Smiley highlights her priorities to “secure the border and lower the cost of living” in another ad.

“It’s a thousand miles from here, but our open southern border is costing us billions and bringing deadly drugs into our communities,” Smiley said. “The rich are doing just fine, but working families are struggling.”

Neither ad lays out specifics on how to tackle the tough issues.

5-term incumbent vs. the MAGA GOP

Newhouse, a Republican from Sunnyside, is seeking a sixth term in Congress this year, but faces primary challenges from seven other candidates — two of them Trump-aligned Republicans.

MAGA Republicans tried unsuccessfully to oust Newhouse in 2022 over his vote to impeach Trump due to his role in fomenting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building. Nine people — including five police officers — died in connection to the event .

Now, conservatives are trying to oust Newhouse yet again, but in a more focused fashion. Instead of six Republicans, just Smiley and Sessler have stepped up in the primary.

Ballots for the Aug. 6 primary will be mailed out by July 19 to registered voters.

It’s unclear where Democrats’ goals lie less than a month out from the primary election and with very little substantial messaging released. Three candidates from that party — Barry Knowles , John Malan , Mary Baechler and “Birdie” Jane Muchlinski , Benancio “Benny” Garcia — have filed to run.

Newhouse handily won reelection to Congress in 2022, overtaking Democrat Doug White in a general election landslide that saw him lead by 35 percentage points.

Financial, polling front runners

The Sunnyside farmer also appears to be the financial front runner so far. Newhouse raised more than $908,000 and spent nearly $490,000 by the end of the first quarter of 2024, according to FEC data . He had about $433,000 in cash left on hand.

Sessler raised nearly $83,000 and spent nearly $76,000 as of March 31, but that was before the Prosser businessman earned the endorsement of Trump through a post on Truth Social.

In her first two months campaigning, Smiley’s campaign reported $550,000 in donations from 6,000 contributors. But it’s unclear how much she has spent so far. Candidates have until Monday, July 15 to file Q2 finance reports with the Federal Election Commission.

While no independent polling has been conducted in the race, both Smiley and Sessler have reported internal numbers showing they can beat Newhouse.

One survey of 400 likely primary voters released by the Smiley camp showed the Pasco veterans advocate led Newhouse by 9 percentage points. About 19% surveyed said they were “undecided.”

“We don’t share internal polling, but I will say that what the Smiley campaign shared isn’t anywhere close to any other poll I’ve seen on the race,” Newhouse’s campaign manager said in a statement.

The Fourth Congressional District encompasses central Washington, stretching from the U.S.-Canada border down to the Columbia River. It includes Omak, East Wenatchee, Moses Lake, Yakima, the Yakama Indian Reservation and the Tri-Cities.

The Cook Partisan Voting Index rated Washington’s Fourth Congressional District R+11 in 2023, meaning it’s strong Republican-leaning district.