Republican state Sen. Matt Boehnke announced Jan. 22 he is forgoing reelection and entering this year’s race to succeed retiring Republican Congressman Dan Newhouse in central Washington.

And he wasted little time criticizing what he views as the performative politics of the two prominent Republicans, Jerrod Sessler and Amanda McKinney, also vying to take the reins from Newhouse in the 4th Congressional District.

“Residents want common sense leadership, they want a statesman that governs by listening to the people and wants to hear the concerns of all,” Boehnke said, referring to his approach. “They are looking for clicks on social media. They are running for the wrong reasons and not for the people.”

Boehnke, 57, of Kennewick, is in his first term representing the 8th Legislative District after serving four years in the House. He is a former Kennewick City Council member and served 22 years in the U.S. Army.

He described himself as a fiscal conservative who will “fight for America First ideas,” promote the district’s economic drivers like agriculture, aerospace and energy, and work to establish the region as a leader in the artificial intelligence sector.

Boehnke is a moderating voice in the Senate Republican Caucus. That, he said, will likely be a source of criticism from within the GOP.

“They’ll say I’m not Republican enough. I don’t scream on social media enough,” he said.

President Donald Trump has endorsed his opponents – McKinney most recently and Sessler in the 2024 election. 

McKinney, a Yakima County commissioner, has also been endorsed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, along with Turning Point Action, the national conservative organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

Sessler, a business owner, has run for the seat twice. He lost in the primary in 2022.

Boehnke said if he gets through this year’s primary in August, he will reach out to the president.

“I voted for the man three times,” he said. And, Boehnke said Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his influential role in the change in power in Syria and cessation of violence in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

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. Devin Poore, a tech consultant, has launched a campaign as an independent. 

The last Democrat to win a U.S. House seat in the district was former Gov. Jay Inslee. He won in 1992, but lost reelection after one term to Doc Hastings, a Republican, who held the seat until retiring in 2015. 

Washington’s 4th Congressional District stretches through the middle of the state from the Canadian border to Oregon. It includes the agriculture-heavy Yakima Valley, the Yakama Indian Reservation, and the Tri-Cities.

Boehnke’s decision to run has been expected. He expressed interest at the time of Newhouse’s announcement and then formed an exploratory committee.

Cascading effect on legislative races

Candidates are already lining up for his seat in the 8th Legislative District that includes Kennewick and west Pasco.

Gabe Galbraith, president of the Kennewick School District Board of Directors, announced his candidacy earlier this month. A Republican, he’s a product of the Tri-Cities, and graduated from Kamiakin High School.

Galbraith is among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that sought to overturn a law passed last year that overhauled a 2024 citizen initiative concerning rights for public school students and their parents. A measure on track to reach the ballot in November would achieve much of what the lawsuit seeks.

State Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, announced Jan. 22 she will abandon her campaign for reelection in the 15th Legislative District and run for Boehnke’s seat instead. 

Torres lives in Pasco. Due to redistricting, her neighborhood wound up in the neighboring 16th Legislative District. She recently secured a place to live in the 15th District to seek a second term. Now she’ll need to find a residence in the 8th District, the border of which is a couple miles from her Pasco home.

Torres said she’s received the endorsements of the 8th District’s two Republican House members, April Connors of Kennewick and Stephanie Barnard of Pasco.

Her decision leaves state Rep. Jeremie Dufault, R-Selah, as the only announced candidate in the race for the Senate seat in the 15th District.

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.