Will Democrats back Republican who voted to impeach Trump in Washington's 4th?

Democrat Doug White, who is running to represent Washington's 4th District in the U.S. House, told KUOW he’s optimistic heading into Tuesday’s primary. “I'm holding number one in the polls,” he said.

But White has an unusual concern: That some Democrats will be voting for one of his Republican opponents in the primary.

“I'm hearing some rumblings that some Democrats are thinking about voting for the least worst Republican,” White said in a video posted online.

He's talking about the incumbent Dan Newhouse, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump the second time. That vote provoked several Trump Republicans to run against him this year, including former police chief, gubernatorial candidate, and election conspiracy theorist Loren Culp, who has Trump’s endorsement.

The chance of a conspiracy theorist like Culp getting through in Washington’s top two primary system has left some Democrats wondering if they should just back Newhouse. That’s because it's not clear a Democrat can win in a general election in the 4th.

Newhouse took around two-thirds of the vote here in 2020 over Democrat Douglas McKinley.

Josh Skipper, a Republican precinct officer in Benton County who is backing Newhouse this year, said most Republicans he knows in the 4th won’t vote for a Democrat even if Culp is their only Republican choice in the general election.

“I just don't think there's enough that will cross party lines especially in 2022 when Democrats nationally are facing a tough road,” Skipper said.

On the other side, Justin Raffa is a Benton County Democratic Party leader who supports Doug White. And he urges fellow Democrats in the district to reject Newhouse as a highly conservative member of Congress.

“I applaud his vote to impeach. But for me at the end of the day, that is not enough to compel me as a voter to want to vote for him over having the opportunity to send a Democrat in his place,” Raffa said.

But Raffa said if White does not make it through tomorrow’s top two primary, and it ends up being two Republicans in the general election, then Newhouse will almost certainly have his vote.