The most recent Republican to be vanquished by Democratic United States Senator Patty Murray reentered the electoral arena today, belatedly declaring a candidacy for the U.S. House in Washington’s solidly red 4th Congressional District against incumbent Dan Newhouse, who is hoping to win another term despite being disliked by the party base.
Tiffany Smiley is charismatic and a proven fundraiser, as she demonstrated last cycle. She has been talked about as a potential rival to Newhouse ever since her loss to Murray in the midterms. But the question on many observers’ minds will surely be, why is she only entering the race now? It’s Filing Week. The Top Two election is just three months from today. That’s not a lot of time to build a potent campaign. And another Newhouse challenger has already secured the endorsements of both Donald Trump and the Washington State Republican Party: ultra MAGA extremist Jerrod Sessler.
Nevertheless, Smiley has decided to run. She’s got a website up, an announcement video, and she also sat for an interview with The National Review.
Her website alludes to her unsuccessful Senate run only in passing:
This past election cycle, drawing on her experiences as a veteran’s advocate, Tiffany sought to serve once again — this time for the people of Washington state. Throughout her nineteen months on the campaign trail for the U.S. Senate, Tiffany was a tireless advocate for policies that sought to expand economic opportunity, support Washington’s men and women in law enforcement, and address the drug and homeless crises plaguing Washington communities. And as the mother of three school-age boys, Tiffany was outspoken about the importance of parental involvement in schools.
Tiffany could have easily returned to private life after a grueling campaign, but that would not be the Smiley way. As she and Scotty tell their boys, when you have the opportunity to stand up and do what’s right, you do it! Tiffany looks forward to continuing her family’s tradition of service through the works of Endeavor PAC, fighting for Americans’ priorities over the priorities of government bureaucrats and special interests to best address the challenges facing our country.
Smiley is very much liked by the Republican Party establishment, whereas Jerrod Sessler isn’t. Consider this line from a Daily Beast article published last month:
“Jerrod Sessler is not a real conservative, and he has no business representing this district; he’s not a serious person,” one GOP operative told The Daily Beast.
Unlike most states in the country, Washington does not give voters an opportunity to select party nominees for placement on the general election ballot in a proper primary. Instead, candidates compete against each other in a two-part general election. In Round One — the Top Two round — fields of candidates are winnowed down to two contenders using first past the post voting. The top two vote getters move on, regardless of party. That means the November general election can be a runoff featuring two Republicans or two Democrats.
Smiley has name recognition from running for U.S. Senate, while Newhouse has incumbency and Sessler has the aforementioned Trump and WSRP endorsements. That’s a recipe for vote-splitting, which is what we saw in the midterms when a number of Republicans decided to run against Newhouse, including failed gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp, State Representative Brad Klippert, and Sessler. Take a look:
August 2022 results for Congress, WA-04
Dan Newhouse Republican | 38,331 votes | 25.49% | |
Doug White Democratic | 37,760 votes | 25.11% | |
Loren Culp Republican | 32,497 votes | 21.61% | |
Jerrod Sessler Republican | 18,495 votes | 12.3% | |
Brad Klippert Republican | 15,430 votes | 10.26% | |
Corey Gibson Republican | 5,080 votes | 3.38% | |
Benancio “Benny” Garcia III Republican | 2,148 votes | 1.43% | |
Jacek Kobiesa Republican | 490 votes | 0.33% |
Newhouse’s rivals split the vote so effectively that Newhouse ended up going to the general election with a Democratic opponent: Doug White. Not having to face a Republican in the general election made the Newhouse camp very, very happy.
Smiley’s late entrance in the arena substantially changes the dynamics in this contest. Now there are three Republican candidates running who’ll have resources and clout. They can’t all go to the November general election.
Who’ll make it and who’ll be eliminated?
With Smiley in the mix, the likelihood of a Newhouse-Sessler general election matchup just decreased. It’s still a possible outcome, but no longer as likely. If Republican voters turning out in the Top Two are as dissatisfied with Newhouse as they were with Jaime Herrera Beutler last cycle, Newhouse’s time in Congress could be over. But Newhouse survived the gauntlet last cycle despite Trump’s enmity.
There’s multiple plausible scenarios here.
Smiley may or may not care about another Newhouse challenger having Trump’s endorsement, but she’s definitely a Trump enabler and made that clear in her conversation with The National Review:
“It’s time for fresh leadership,” Smiley told National Review in an interview ahead of her announcement. “We have an invasion at the border. We have unrest in our own country. We have an economy where families are struggling to keep up with the price increase, and we have unrest around the globe.”
She also criticized Newhouse for voting to impeach Trump while representing Washington’s deep-red Fourth District. “That’s not a vote that represents the voters of the Fourth District,” Smiley said. “Donald Trump is our nominee, and we need Donald Trump’s policies in this country to save this country going forward. So given Newhouse’s past history with Trump, I don’t believe that Newhouse is the best person to legislate with a Trump administration.”
Smiley also pointed out that Sessler couldn’t get the job done in 2022:
Another split Republican [Top Two] field in 2024 could play to Newhouse’s favor. This time around, Trump has thrown his support behind veteran and former NASCAR driver Jerrod Sessler, who came in fourth place in last cycle’s jungle [election] for Newhouse’s seat with just 12 percent of the vote.
Smiley insists that she’s undeterred. “At this point, Sessler has been in the race for four years. He’s a perennial candidate, very low name recognition and no chance of winning,” she said.
Sessler does have Trump’s endorsement this time… but Loren Culp had it last time and didn’t get through. So Smiley can cite precedent when making arguments about her prospects and electability. And she undoubtedly will be doing that from now until August. But she may have a tougher time explaining why she waited so long to run.
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