- Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler conceded defeat Tuesday, a week after polls closed in Washington state.
- Trump backed a primary opponent in Herrera Beutler after voting to impeach him.
- The former president has made it clear that he wants to rid the GOP of any pro-impeachment lawmakers.
Republican Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler conceded defeat to a Trump-backed primary challenger on Tuesday, handing former President Donald Trump another victory in his vendetta against pro-impeachment lawmakers.
“Thank you, Southwest Washington, for entrusting me with the privilege of representing you in Congress six times. Since I was first elected to this seat, I have done my best to serve my home region. and our country,” Herrera Beutler said in a statement a week after polls closed in Washington state, according to the Chinook Observer. “Although my campaign failed this time, I am proud of all we have achieved together for the place I was raised and still call home.”
Trump backed Army veteran Joe Kent in the race. Washington’s Third District is Republican-friendly and should be easily held by Kent if medium-term historical trends prevail in November.
The loss of Herrera Beutler means seven of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection will not return to Congress next year. She is the third Republican in the group to fall in a primary, joining fellow Representatives Tom Price of South Carolina and Peter Meijer of Michigan. The vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, Rep. Liz Cheney, will face voters in Wyoming next week. The other four lawmakers have decided to retire.
Democratic lawmakers have discussed calling Herrera Beutler to testify at the impeachment trial over her account of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s seemingly heated conversation with Trump as the riot unfolded. In the end, no witnesses were called.
Trump has made it clear since leaving office that one of his main missions is to rid the Republican Party of lawmakers who made his second most bipartisan impeachment in history. On both occasions, Senate Republicans subsequently acquitted him.
Only two House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, Representatives David Valadao of California and Dan Newhouse of Washington, survived the GOP primaries as a result of their votes. Newhouse faced six other Republicans in the race and beat Trump-backed Loren Culp by just over 6,000 votes.
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