Politics

Jaime Herrera Beutler’s legacy and the impact of the impeachment vote

By Paul Marshall (OPB)
Jan. 8, 2023 9:14 p.m.
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., speaks during a hearing on June 4, 2020.

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., speaks during a hearing on June 4, 2020.

Al Drago / Pool via AP

Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler represented Southwest Washington’s 3rd congressional district for 12 years until she was defeated by right-wing candidate Joe Kent in the primaries last spring after she voted to impeach former President Donald Trump. Kent was later defeated by Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.

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Herrera Beutler reflected on her legacy — and the legacy of her impeachment vote — in an interview with Elaina Plott Calabro, a staff writer at The Atlantic.

Plott Calabro sat down with OPB’s Paul Marshall to talk about Beutler’s reflections



Paul Marshall: How does Herrera Beutler explain her defeat in the primary last spring?

Elaina Plott Calabro: She explains it with one clear-eyed succinct reason, but with a caveat attached. She does acknowledge that the forces behind “Trumpism” and the aftershock of her vote to impeach Trump in the aftermath of January 6th sealed her fate in the primary. Of course, Joe Kent, who did defeat her, was a Republican backed by Trump, [and] who quite adamantly promoted the lie that the election was stolen from Trump in 2020.

And as soon as Herrera Beutler cast her vote to impeach Trump, she was always going to be overshadowed by that narrative.

The caveat she adds to that is that it all could have been different had she only known to communicate more directly — and simply more often — with her constituents about the reality of what had gone on on January 6th.

As she told me in a recent interview, I walked into this — meaning her election — thinking we all had the same information about what had gone on that day, and she felt that her constituents did not.

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Marshall: Did she have any ideas for overcoming the disinformation that many voters seem to believe — especially about the events of January 6th?

Plott Calabro: She really wishes that the Democrats managing the impeachment trial of Trump in the Senate had pushed forward and subpoenaed witnesses. But of course, being in the House of Representatives, she had no control over whether [Democratic Rep.] Jamie Raskin ultimately decided to subpoena [former Vice President] Mike Pence or something like that.


Marshall: Most of the Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump lost their elections (7 of 9). And some of them, like Liz Cheney, have since been very critical of the Republican party. Where does Herrera Beutler stand on that?

Plott Calabro: I would say first that she was never somebody in her six terms in Congress who was on cable news, was constantly on the radio, was constantly commenting publicly on what was going on whether in the country or in the party.

From the time she got to office, wanted to maintain a very hyperlocal focus in the work that she did. And because of that, she was really thrown out of her comfort zone in the aftermath of January 6th, when she did decide she wanted to kind of start toeing the waters a bit more with speaking out against Trump and what had happened that day,

I would say since then she has receded back to her comfort zone, which is not getting on air demanding accountability for Trump in the way that you see somebody like [former Republican Rep.] Adam Kinzinger or [former Republican Rep.] Liz Cheney doing constantly.

In fact, she told me that the January 6th committee as a whole was not something that she believed would have resonance at the end of the day. The people who most needed to be moved by it — the millions of Americans who voted for Trump — were most likely not going to be moved by it.

So yes, she did cast her vote to impeach Trump. Yes, she has gone on the record supporting that vote, including most recently with me, but you are not going to see her on MSNBC anytime soon railing against the [former] president and demanding an indictment from the [Department of Justice].


Marshall: What’s next for Herrera Beutler?

Plott Calabro: As she put it to me: essentially, she might run again someday, and she might not. You have to remember that she has been in elected office since her late 20s. She’s 44 now, so she’s never really experienced life as a private citizen. She had all three of her children while she was in Congress. So, as she told me, she is looking forward to remaining on one coast for a bit, experiencing life just as a family of five without her having to travel back and forth.

She does see public service in her future, even if she says she doesn’t know what shape that will take. My impression from our conversation, however, was that she will run again just recently. Two days ago I think we saw her on CNN talking about antics on the House floor as Republicans continue to try and elect [now-House Speaker] Kevin McCarthy.

That appearance I found very, very interesting, because for somebody who never jumped at those opportunities while in office, it did strike me as a move one might make if they were trying to stay relevant in advance of perhaps another congressional bid two years down the line.

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