NEWHOUSE SLAMS SESSLER FOR A “30% SALES TAX;” TRUE BUT MISLEADING
Incumbent Dan Newhouse, right, and challenger Jerrod Sessler, left, both Republicans
Editor’s note: This article was written before the November 5, 2024 election. The winner, between two Republicans, of the general election to the Congressional Seat for the Fourth District of Washington State is Dan Newhouse. So, why were two Republicans competing in a general election? The answer is ranked-choice voting (“RCV”), sometimes called a “jungle primary.” In June 2023, the Washington State Supreme Court explicitly named RCV as a legal remedy for perceived voting rights violations by some Washingtonians. RCV is a complex process that permits voters to assign ranked preferences to several candidates. Here, RCV named two Republicans as numbers one and two for the General Election.
Eric Rosane, in an article appearing in the Tri-City Herald of Kennewick, Washington, on October 16, 2024, reports that incumbent Dan Newhouse, WA-04, attacked his challenger, Jerrod Sessler, for Sessler’s support of the FAIRtax. Newhouse cited the FAIRtax as a “30% tax on everything.” You can read the article here:
https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article293966459.html#storylink=cpy
To his credit, Rosane notes that Newhouse’s attacks took a similar approach to others’, “… while omitting details that the legislation would also repeal several other taxes.” The Yakima County Republican Party, geographically located in the Fourth Congressional District, apparently took Sessler’s side. Supporting the FAIRtax, the county party wrote, “Wow.. talk about desperation here by Newhouse. @Sessler pic.twitter.com/y0Um0kq55h — Yakima GOP (@gop_yakima) October 12, 2024.”
Rosane continues: “It’s unclear if Sessler still supports the FairTax Act. [Matt] Brown [Sessler’s campaign manager] did not respond to the question put forward by the Tri-City Herald this week and didn’t say what prompted the alleged position change. Sessler’s campaign had included a web page and YouTube video dedicated to his support for the FairTax Act, but those appear to have been recently taken down after Newhouse began his attack ads. However, the Herald was able to screenshot the page last week before it went offline.”
Who knows? Perhaps Sessler should have stuck to his guns on the FAIRtax. If elected, Sessler may have been a cosponsor.
We met Sessler at CPAC in Orlando, Florida, in 2022, so it is clear that Sessler will remain active in politics. I would love to hear from you if anyone knows him or his campaign manager, Matt Brown.
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🇺🇸 Call For Pictures & WriteUps - We need more of you to send in pictures and news. If you have something to share, please send your material to me, Jim.Bennett@FAIRtax.org, (908) 578-4975, or fax (908) 598-2888. When others see your activity, they are inspired, and the process snowballs. When the process snowballs, Congress Members, Senators, and even the President start to listen.