Tiffany Smiley, the former triage nurse and veterans’ advocate who ran unsuccessfully against Democratic senator Patty Murray (D., Wash.) in 2022, will announce today that she’s challenging Representative Dan Newhouse (R., Wash.) this cycle, National Review has exclusively learned, setting up a potentially bruising reelection fight for one of two remaining pro-impeachment House Republicans.
A crowded jungle primary in 2022 helped Newhouse (R., Wash.) — one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach former president Donald Trump three years ago — easily fend off his primary challengers. But his path to reelection may look a bit more complicated in 2024 if the conditions are right for his newest Republican primary challenger.
“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 garnered nationwide media attention when she ran against Democratic senator Patty Murray in 2022. On the trail, she leaned into her veterans’-advocacy experience as the wife of former Army major Scotty Smiley, who was blinded by a suicide car bomb in Iraq almost 20 years ago. Polls conducted in the final weeks of the campaign had suggested that the race was tight, but Murray ultimately sailed to reelection by nearly 15 points.
A few months later, Smiley launched a political-action committee called “Endeavor PAC” to benefit like-minded congressional candidates running for office in 2024. The PAC has raised around $77,000 as of last quarter, spending most of its funds on consulting fees and contributions to a number of GOP campaigns, including Senate candidates Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania and Tim Sheehy in Montana.
“As I was helping all these candidates and telling them to jump in,” Smiley said, “I looked around in my own district and thought: ‘It’s time. The time is now to make a difference.'”
Ousting Newhouse could prove difficult. The goal for Smiley is to give the veteran incumbent a run for his money in this year’s jungle primary, which allows the top two finishers to compete in the general election regardless of their party affiliation. During the last cycle, Trump’s preferred Republican candidate, Loren Culp, came in third place with around 21 percent of the vote behind second-place finisher, Democrat Doug White. The district’s deep-red tint meant that Newhouse was able to sail to victory in the general against White by 36 points.
Another split Republican primary 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 primary 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.