4th District Rep. Dan Newhouse Seeking Reelection, Says Agricultural Interests Lacking in Congress

Fourth District Republican Congressman Dan Newhouse is running for reelection to a fifth term this year.

Newhouse is a farmer by trade, and he says agriculture is an industry that is vastly underrepresented in Congress.

"We need people in the agricultural industry that understand the challenges and the unique nature of our business," said Newhouse. "And frankly, that is sorely lacking. There's only about, out 535 people about 15 members of that whole body, the Senate and House, who are engaged in agriculture."

Before his election to Congress, Newhouse served as director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture and as a member of the Washington House of Representatives.

He also chairs the Congressional Western Conference, which is a group of 62 Republicans who are focused on western and rural parts of the country.

Numbers compiled by the conservative Washington Policy Center show agriculture accounts for $51 billion – or 13 percent - of Washington’s yearly economic activity.

After narrowly winning his seat against another Republican in 2014, Newhouse has easily been reelected in every race since then.

He's being challenged by five Republicans and one Democrat in this year's contest, after being one 10 GOP House members who voted to impeach Donald Trump during Trump's second impeachment.

Still, Newhouse has raised far more money than any of his challengers, and has almost a million dollars of cash-on-hand as of the most recent campaign finance filing period.

Newhouse is hoping he gets reelected along with a wave of Republicans.

He blames most of the current problems facing the country on Democrats, who have controlled Congress and the Presidency since 2020.

"Ya know you look at inflation and the cost of everything that is going up," Newhouse said. "A lot of the reasons for that are because of policies that are being made currently by the majority in power. We see the increases in crime throughout the country. I see it all over in Central Washington.

There has not been much polling of voters in the 4th district ahead of the upcoming August primary election.