Republican Who Voted To Impeach Trump Announces Retirement
Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington announced Wednesday that he will not seek reelection in 2026, bringing an end to a decades-long political career and closing the chapter on one of the last remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump following the January 6 protests.
“I am announcing today that I will not seek reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives,” Newhouse said in a written statement. “Serving the Fourth District of Washington has been the honor of my life, and this decision comes with no reservations or remorse, only gratitude for the tremendous opportunity to have represented my home state in Congress.”
Newhouse also thanked his constituents and colleagues “on both sides of the aisle,” reflecting on more than 25 years in public office, which began in the Washington state legislature.
“Public service takes many forms,” he said. “As I look forward to this new chapter and ways I can continue to serve my community and this great Nation, I do so with confidence that there are now qualified and serious people expressing interest in this office. Central Washington will have a strong, capable leader to whom I can pass the torch.”
The 69-year-old lawmaker represents Washington’s Fourth Congressional District, a solidly Republican seat rated R+10 by the Cook Partisan Voting Index. The district covers much of central and eastern Washington, including Douglas, Okanogan, Grant, Yakima, Benton, and Klickitat counties, as well as parts of Adams and Franklin counties.
A farmer and former director of Washington’s Department of Agriculture, Newhouse was first elected to Congress in 2014 and took office in 2015. He cultivated an image as a pragmatic conservative focused on agriculture, water policy, and rural economic development.
However, Newhouse’s political legacy is inseparable from his vote to impeach President Donald Trump. He was one of just 10 House Republicans who joined Democrats in a partisan impeachment effort rooted in selectively presented evidence and a narrative framing Trump’s constitutionally protected challenge to the 2020 election as criminal misconduct.
“These Articles of Impeachment are flawed, but I will not use process as an excuse. There is no excuse for President Trump’s actions. The President took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” Newhouse said at the time.
“Last week, there was a domestic threat at the door of the Capitol, and he did nothing to stop it. That is why, with a heavy heart and clear resolve, I will vote ‘yes’ on these Articles of Impeachment.”
Those claims stood in sharp contrast to the record. President Trump explicitly called for “peaceful and patriotic” protest ahead of January 6 and issued multiple statements urging calm and respect for law and order once unrest began, including a direct call for protesters to “go home” — a message that was swiftly followed by unprecedented, coordinated censorship across major social media platforms.
An Inspector General report later revealed that President Trump had directed the Pentagon to secure the Capitol in advance of the protests and authorized up to 10,000 National Guard troops if necessary to protect the joint session of Congress.
Despite those facts, Newhouse aligned himself with then–Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment push, which sought not only to remove a sitting president but to bar him from ever holding office again — a move widely viewed by conservatives as an anti-democratic attempt to nullify the will of millions of voters and sideline the Democratic Party’s political opposition.
Of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump, eight have since been defeated in primaries or opted to retire rather than face near-certain loss. Only Newhouse and Rep. David Valadao of California — who faces a difficult reelection fight — remain in Congress.
Newhouse himself survived intense primary challenges from former NASCAR driver and outspoken Trump supporter Jerrod Sessler in both 2022 and 2024. Sessler announced earlier this year that he intends to run again for the seat in 2026, setting the stage for a full conservative reset in the reliably Republican district.