Republican Herrera Beutler wins a 6th term in Congress

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler has won a sixth term in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District.

Herrera Beutler fended off a challenge from Democratic political science professor Carolyn Long in a rematch of the 2018 election. Long conceded the race on Wednesday, and The Associated Press called it Thursday, with Herrera Beutler leading by more than 10 percentage points.

It was the state's most expensive congressional race. The campaign focused on policy differences that mirrored those between Republicans and Democrats nationally — over health care, climate change, taxes and police reform, among other issues.

The southwest Washington district formerly leaned Democratic but voted for Donald Trump in 2016.

The incumbent edged the challenger slightly in fundraising, more than $4 million to $3.7 million through mid-October, with national Republican organizations spending about $1.4 million to defend the seat and Democrats $900,000 to win it. Long outpaced Herrera Beutler in individual contributions while money from political action committees made up a greater share of Herrera Beutler’s contributions.

Herrera Beutler highlighted her willingness to sometimes buck her party, as when she joined Democrats in voting for a measure to lower prescription drug costs — a vote that angered a pharmaceutical industry that had supported her. She also worked with Democrats to allow officials in Washington and Oregon to kill sea lions feasting on salmon in the Columbia River.

She said she believes in climate science, reducing carbon emissions and encouraging carbon capture technology. But she supported the president’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, saying it would have cost American families too much in lost jobs and higher prices for gas, groceries and energy.

Some independent fact checkers have found that the costs of complying with the Paris accord would be negligible, especially considering the extreme costs — such as from rising seas and more intense storms — of failing to address climate change.

Long criticized Herrera Beutler for supporting Trump’s tax cuts, which disproportionately benefited corporations and the wealthy and were projected to add $1.9 trillion to the deficit over 10 years before the pandemic hit. The Democrat derided Herrera Beutler’s claims that the tax cuts would pay for themselves, a notion many economic forecasters have also disputed despite the administration’s rosy insistence otherwise.

Herrera Beutler also had to parry Long’s attacks on her honesty. While Herrera Beutler insisted that she wants to maintain insurance protections for those with preexisting conditions, she voted dozens of times to repeal or gut the Affordable Care Act without Republicans offering an alternative, Long said.

Herrera Beutler insisted that the protections are a priority — noting that her own 7-year-old has had a kidney transplant.

The congresswoman criticized her challenger’s past statements supporting a “Medicare for All” plan. Long said she was pushing to add a public option to the Affordable Care Act.