Veterans activist Tiffany Smiley files to oust Republican Dan Newhouse from U.S. House

Central Washington voters now have three Republicans to choose from in the race for the 4th Congressional District.

Veterans advocate and former U.S. Senate hopeful Tiffany Smiley on Monday threw her name into the race for the U.S. House, kicking off a high-stakes challenge against a fellow Republican, Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside.

“For almost twenty years, I’ve worked to change government from the outside. But now it’s clear that the best place for me to continue my work and deliver real change for Washington families is inside the halls of Congress,” Smiley said in her announcement.

“Washington-04 has always been my home, and our friends and neighbors here have always had our backs — in our highest highs and lowest lows. There is a lot of work to do, and I hope those same friends and neighbors will join me as I run to be their voice and have their backs as the next representative of WA-04,” she continued.

The Pasco Republican’s announcement complicates things for Newhouse, a five-term incumbent, and Jerrod Sessler, the Trump-endorsed challenger also looking to unseat him.

Many moderate Republicans are skeptical that former President Donald Trump, who is running this year in a rematch against his political rival, President Joe Biden, can rally the party and make gains in the Evergreen State.

But support within Washington’s 4th District — the state’s most conservative congressional district, where Trump overwhelmingly beat Biden by nearly 20 percentage points in the 2020 election — doesn’t appear to have waned. Many of the district’s most conservative voters and activists, including Sessler, still remain upset over Newhouse’s 2021 vote to impeach the former president for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Filing period for open races throughout Washington state kicked off Monday.

Candidates running for elected office this year must file paperwork with the Washington Secretary of State’s Office from May 6-May 10.

Only the top two with the most votes — no matter which political party — in the Aug. 6 primary election can move on to the general election on Nov. 5.

A crowded field of conservatives could spell disaster again for MAGA Republicans, who in 2022 bloated the primary in an attempt to oust Newhouse and inadvertently allowed a progressive Democrat, Doug White, to advance to the general election.

So far no Democrats have announced a plan to run this year for Newhouse’s seat.

The 4th Congressional District encompasses central Washington, stretching from the U.S.-Canada border down to the Columbia River. It includes the Tri-Cities, Yakima, Yakama Indian Reservation, Moses Lake, East Wenatchee and Omak.

Veterans advocate

A Pasco native and current Tri-Cities resident, Smiley put her career as a triage nurse on hold after her high school sweetheart and husband, Scotty Smiley, a West Point graduate, was injured by a suicide car bomber while deployed in Mosul, Iraq.

The incident blinded Scotty Smiley and turned his wife into an overnight activist for wounded veterans.

While her husband was still in a coma in trauma care, she was asked to sign a document for his immediate discharge from the Army.

She refused and her husband became the first blind active-duty Army officer, with duties that included teaching at West Point and commanding the Warrior Transition Unit at West Point’s Keller Army Medical Center.

“During Scotty’s recovery at Walter Reed, Tiffany became his voice and advocate — standing up to the military bureaucracy to fight for his dreams and the care he had earned,” Smiley’s campaign wrote.

Her work to make sure that her husband’s recovery was not compromised by inefficient government bureaucracy expanded to ensure other veterans received the benefit and care they deserve. She worked across the political aisle to achieve reform at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

In 2022, Smiley challenged U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who was first elected to the seat in 1993. Despite polling that suggested a competitive race, Smiley lost to Murray by 14 percentage points in a blowout.

Months later, Smiley launched a new political action committee, Endeavor PAC, in an effort to back outsider conservative candidates. But donations given to that PAC were also reportedly used to settle a lingering debt Smiley had in her run against Murray, the Seattle Times reported.

5-term incumbent

Newhouse is a lifelong Central Washington resident and businessman. He’s a third-generation Yakima Valley farmer and continues to operate an 850-acre farm that grows hops, tree fruit and grapes.

He previously served in the Washington Legislature, from 2003 to 2009, and as director of Washington State’s Department of Agriculture, from 2009 to 2013.

Newhouse won election to the U.S. House in 2014, succeeding former Congressman Doc Hastings. He currently serves on the House’s Appropriations Committee.

As of Monday morning, the Sunnyside Republican was the only candidate to have registered with the Washington Secretary of State’s office to run in the Aug. 6 primary.

“We live in challenging times when strong leaders are needed to ensure a safe and prosperous future for our children and our nation. I am humbled by the honor of representing Central Washington in Congress, and I look forward to continuing this important work,” Newhouse said in a Monday statement.

Sessler, a Prosser businessman, was one of six Republicans who attempted to oust Newhouse in 2022.

Last month, Trump gave a full-throated endorsement of Sessler, blessing the MAGA candidate’s challenge and calling Newhouse a “weak and pathetic RINO,” or Republican in name only.

Sessler also earned his state party’s endorsement at the Washington State Republican Party Convention in Spokane two weeks ago.