Trump-endorsed candidate attacks other Trump-endorsed candidate in same race as an ‘afterthought’

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) is one of the few remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump in 2021. Now, as payback, he’s set to face not just one but two candidates with the former president’s endorsement. 

Trump endorsed GOP candidate Tiffany Smiley late Saturday evening, lauding her as a “tremendous America First Candidate” running against the five-term incumbent. The endorsement, though, comes three and a half months after Trump threw his support behind Jerrod Sessler — a contradiction the former president seems to have no issue with. 

“They are both running against a weak and pathetic RINO, Dan Newhouse, who stupidly voted to impeach me for absolutely no reason, and he now strongly wishes he didn’t make that Decision,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “Newhouse has to go, and Republicans need to unite behind a WINNER to ensure we have a tremendous Victory in November. Therefore, I give my Complete and Total Endorsement to both Tiffany Smiley and Jerrod Kessler – EITHER OF WHICH WILL DO A TREMENDOUS JOB, AND NEVER LET YOU DOWN.”

And Smiley, for her part, didn’t seem to mind either, telling the Washington Examiner the endorsement, which came just three days before the primary election, will help her campaign because “voters are still making their choice and continuing to return their ballots.” 

“It’s a huge momentum push for us,” Smiley said in an interview. 

Trump endorsed Sessler in mid-April, a few weeks before Smiley announced her own bid to run in the same district. But Sessler’s endorsement, Smiley contends, was only because Trump “wants anyone but Newhouse.”

“Just speaking honestly, Jared Sessler is an afterthought. I am the front-runner in this election,” Smiley said. “And, you know, why would President Trump endorse me if he was so confident in Jared Sessler?”

Sessler’s campaign, on the other hand, has brushed off concerns that Trump’s endorsement to Smiley will pull the race away from him. Instead, Sessler has argued he is the only candidate who is Trump-endorsed as well as backed by the House Freedom Caucus and the Washington Republican Party. 

“Washington voters need not be deceived,” the campaign told the Washington Examiner in a statement, also citing Sessler’s experience as a Navy veteran and cattle farmer. “Return your ballot for Jerrod Sessler by tomorrow’s deadline. He’s the REAL DEAL.”

Sessler and Smiley are both running in the GOP primary on Tuesday to unseat Newhouse, who has represented Washington’s 4th Congressional District since 2015. Trump previously sought to unseat Newhouse in the 2022 midterm elections after the Washington Republican attracted the former president’s ire by voting in favor of his second impeachment. Newhouse was one of just 10 House Republicans to do so and only one of two GOP lawmakers left remaining.  

Although the double endorsement has raised questions about Trump’s strategy, it’s not the first time the former president has made such a move. 

Earlier this year, Trump endorsed all three major Republican candidates running in the GOP primary for Missouri’s governor: Jay Ashcroft, Mike Kehoe, and Bill Eigel. 

“Choose any one of them – You can’t go wrong!” he said in a post last week. 

He made a similar move in the same state just two years earlier when Trump gave his endorsement to “ERIC” in the Missouri Senate race — prompting confusion as the two Republicans running shared the same first name. One of those Erics, now-Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), went on to win the race.