The next Congress will feature two House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump after the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, with NBC News projecting that Reps. David Valadao of California and Dan Newhouse of Washington won re-election.
NBC News projected Valadao as the winner in his Central Valley district Tuesday night, where he won a close rematch against Democratic former state lawmaker Rudy Salas.
Valadao is the only House Republican who voted to impeach Trump but has not expressed Trump’s wrath in the form of a statement of support against him, although Valadao has faced challenges since his impeachment vote from his right side.
But he has overcome these challenges thanks in part to California’s top-two primary system, in which candidates from all parties compete on the same primary ballot and the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation.
Washington also has a top-two primary system. Newhouse easily won re-election over a Democrat two Novembers ago after emerging from the primary.
But in this year’s general election, Newhouse faced a fellow Republican backed by Trump, former NASCAR driver Jerrod Sessler. Trump initially endorsed Sessler ahead of the primaries, but he also hedged his bets and endorsed another Republican, Tiffany Smiley, although Sessler ultimately captured one of the top two spots alongside Newhouse.
Trump boosted Sessler again a week before Election Day, writing on Truth Social that Newhouse is “a weak and pathetic RINO,” or Republican in name only, and that Sessler will “do an incredible job — he’s totally MAGA, and has my complete and total approval.”
But that was the extent of Trump’s help in the race, and Sessler was vastly outspent on the air after the August primaries.
A GOP super PAC called National Interest Action, which played in two other House primaries, dropped $1.6 million in ads to boost Newhouse after the primaries, according to the ad tracking company AdImpact. Newhouse’s campaign spent $471,000 on the broadcast, compared to Sessler’s $227,000.
Newhouse’s most broadcast spot focused on immigration and his work in the House of Representatives, portraying Sessler’s policies as too extreme.
Newhouse and Valadao are the only two of the 10 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to impeach Trump and are still serving in the House. Four retirees and four others — Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Peter Meijer of Michigan, Tom Rice of South Carolina and Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington state — lost the 2022 primaries to Trump-backed challengers.
Three of the seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial will return to the chamber next year: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Susan Collins of Maine.
Cassidy and Collins are both up for re-election in 2026.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
