Rep. Dan Newhouse is the projected winner of his primary in Washington’s 4th District, but Republican colleague Jaime Herrera Beutler’s lead over a challenger backed by former President Donald Trump has narrowed significantly in the state’s 3rd District as votes from Tuesday continue to be tallied.
Other races called Friday night by The Associated Press showed Democratic Rep. Kim Schrier will face Republican lawyer-businessman Matt Larkin in Washington’s 8th District, while Marine veteran Kelly Cooper will face Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton in Arizona’s 4th District.
Newhouse and Herrera Beutler were among the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after his supporters stormed the Capitol in 2021, and the former president urged supporters to defeat them this year. One other impeachment supporter, Rep. Peter Meijer, was defeated in Tuesday’s primary in Michigan.
Washington’s primaries put candidates of all parties on the same ballot, and the two top vote-getters face each other in the November general election.
With an estimated 85 percent of the vote counted Friday night, Newhouse was running first in the eight-candidate field with 26 percent and was declared the winner by the AP at 5:15 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday. Democrat Doug White, a digital marketing executive, secured the second spot on the ballot with 25 percent. Loren Culp, a former police chief and unsuccessful 2020 gubernatorial candidate who was backed by Trump, was third with 21 percent. Five other Republicans split the remaining 28 percent.
In the 3rd District, Herrera Beutler and Trump-backed challenger Joe Kent were battling for the second spot on the ballot with an estimated 96 percent of the vote counted on Friday night. The only call in the race made by the AP was that Democrat Marie Perez had secured the top spot, with 31 percent. Herrera Beutler held a 257-vote lead over Kent, with each taking less than 23 percent. On Wednesday morning, returns had showed Herrera Beutler with a 5-point lead over Kent. Six other candidates — three Republicans, one Democrat and two independents — split the rest of the vote.
Regardless of the nominees, the November elections in both Washington’s 3rd and 4th Districts are rated Solid Republican by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales.
In Washington’s 8th District, the November race is rated a Toss-up. Schrier was declared one of the primary’s two winners on Tuesday night and had 48 percent on Friday with an estimated 91 percent counted. Larkin, with 17 percent, was projected to win the second spot. Republican Reagan Dunn, a King County councilmember, had 15 percent and conceded to Larkin Friday afternoon. Of the eight other candidates running, three were Republicans, two were Democrats and three were independent or third-party candidates.
The call in the Republican primary in Arizona’s 4th District means Stanton will face Cooper, a restaurateur with a portfolio that includes two Melting Pot franchises who loaned his campaign more than $1.3 million. Cooper had 28 percent of the vote in the five-candidate field, followed by Tanya Contreras Wheeless, who was backed by the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC aligned with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Stanton, a former Phoenix mayor, is running in a reconfigured district that is not quite as favorable to Democrats as last cycle, when he won by 23 points in the 9th District. He remains favored, however, and the race is rated Likely Democratic by Inside Elections.
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