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Congressman Jaime Herrera Beutler (Washington), one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump last year, has backed out of his tight primary race against Joe Kent. Kent is a Green Beret endorsed by the former president and is expected to advance in the Washington state primary.
Herrera Beutler conceded his race Tuesday night, with Kent leading the incumbent by less than 1,000 votes at the time.
“Thank you, Southwest Washington, for entrusting me six times with the privilege of representing you in Congress. Since I was first elected to this seat, I have done my best to serve my home region and our country. Although my campaign came up short this time, I’m proud of everything we’ve accomplished together for the place I grew up in and still call home.”
The Associated Press had not officially signaled that Herrera Beutler would not advance to the general election as of Tuesday night. But if Kent ultimately advances, he will face Marie Glusenkamp Perez (D), an auto repair shop owner who received the most votes in the Aug. 2 primary, the Associated Press predicted. A tight race left the outcome in doubt for an extended period of time.
In saying the race was too early to call, the AP cited Kent’s slim lead of 0.42 percentage points among a total of 217,626 ballots counted Tuesday night and the fact that Washington state allows automatic recounts if the race is within 0.5 percentage points. At the time of Herrera Beutler’s concession, about 10,000 votes remained to be counted.
See full results for Washington State
Herrera Beutler, who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, would be the third such House Republican to lose in a primary this year, joining Rep. Peter Meyer (Mich.), who was defeated last week, and Rep. Tom Rice (S.C.), who lost last month. Two Republicans advanced — both from the all-party primary: Congressman Dan Newhouse (Washington) and Congressman David G. Valladão (California). Four others decided not to run for re-election.
The last House Republican to face a primary is Congresswoman Liz Cheney (Wyo.), who will go before voters on August 16. She faces a challenger running to her right and backed by Trump.
Here’s what happened to the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump
Kent, who has never run for office before, raised more than $2.2 million and held town hall meetings in the 3rd Congressional District, which stretches from the Pacific Coast to central Washington. He embraced Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election.
He is positioned to prevail despite a split vote against Herrera Beutler, drawing national attention when he flew to Washington, D.C., to rally in support of what he called “political prisoners” who were jailed in connection with the January 6 attack.
“Whether you have questions about the election, whether you question election procedures, or whether you’re a parent who shows up at a school board meeting, you can be labeled a terrorist or an insurgent by our national security state,” Kent told voters on stop time last month.
National Democrats did not spend in the primary after repeatedly targeting the district and losing to Herrera Beutler. In an interview before the primary, Peres called Kent a “terrifying” extremist, seeing a way to beat him even in a seat that Trump had carried by single digits in 2020.
“This is the state of Washington, for Pete’s sake, and we’re offering a guy who thinks we should impeach Anthony S. Fauci [President] Biden, end legal immigration?” Peres asked. Last year, Kent called for a “moratorium” on legal immigration as he continued to work to stop illegal immigration.
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