Two years ago, Amanda McKinney, a Republican Yakima County commissioner, made a commercial endorsing Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse for re-election and assailing his GOP opponent who had the backing of then former President Donald Trump.

“I trust Dan,” she says in the 30-second television spot, adding that he has the “experience and clout to keep delivering for central Washington.”

Two weeks ago, McKinney, who is running to succeed the outgoing Newhouse, offered a different story at AmericaFest, an annual event hosted by Turning Point USA, the conservative organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

She told the crowd that after “her congressman” voted to impeach Trump in 2021, “I knew that I needed to find a way to retire him. I took a couple years … understanding and finding a pathway to retire our sitting congressman.”

Video from her Dec. 21 appearance in Phoenix, Arizona, has been mashed together with snippets from the campaign ad into a meme that’s captured the attention of Republicans in the 4th Congressional District that Newhouse has represented since 2015.

“I’ve had a lot of Republicans ask me about it,” said Matt Brown, chair of the Yakima County Republican Party and political director for the state Republican Party. “They say it doesn’t make a lot of sense. She’s been in videos with Dan for years.”

Republican Jerrod Sessler, who lost to Newhouse in 2024 and was the target of the campaign ad McKinney appeared in, was more blunt.

“She lied. No soft shoeing it,” texted Sessler, who is also running for the congressional seat. “She lied about working to retire him because, since the impeachment, she’s been actively working to support him.”

McKinney did not respond to requests for comment.

Her ardent and longstanding support for Newhouse didn’t dissuade Trump from endorsing McKinney on Jan. 6. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, did so too.

Trump is no fan of Newhouse. He ridiculed him as “weak and pathetic” during the 2024 election because of the impeachment vote.

The endorsements for McKinney seem aimed at nullifying Sessler, who is making his third run at the seat, and averting a slugfest among GOP candidates in the solidly Republican district. McKinney and Sessler are the only ones to announce, but state Sen. Matt Boehnke, R-Kennewick, is eyeing the race and could join in the coming days.

Sessler, of Prosser, a Navy veteran and businessman, said Jan. 6 that he continues to have Trump’s support.

“I knew the deal was inbound. There is no tarnish on the relationship between the president and I,” Sessler said. “His team is making deals as they have done in the past. My endorsement is from the president himself.”

One Democrat is mounting a bid for the 4th District seat so far: John Duresky, a retired Air Force officer who also worked at the Hanford nuclear cleanup site. And Devin Poore has launched a campaign as an independent. 

When Newhouse announced Dec. 17 that he would not seek a seventh term, he told reporters he had made no decisions “about who I may or may not be supporting” as a successor. 

A campaign spokesperson said Jan. 6 that the congressman’s stance has not changed.

This story is republished from the Washington State Standard, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet that provides original reporting, analysis and commentary on Washington state government and politics.