The Republican Leadership Member Most Likely to Lose
Look over Speaker Paul Ryan’s shoulder at a press conference. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the representative for Washington’s Fifth District and the chair of the House Republican Conference, will often be there. Frequently, she’s the only woman at House Republicans’ press conferences, though it’s usually Ryan’s words, not hers, that make the news. This year, McMorris Rodgers is fighting for her political survival in an unexpectedly competitive race to lock down her Spokane-area district.
Polls show her a few points ahead of the Democrat Lisa Brown, a former state Senate majority leader and university chancellor. In what has been called the “year of the woman,” McMorris Rodgers—the most prominent female elected Republican in the country—is facing a challenge from another high-profile female candidate. The race in former Democratic Speaker Tom Foley’s old district will also serve as a referendum of sorts on President Donald Trump, given McMorris Rodgers close ties to him, and on his tariffs, which are meeting skepticism in a district reliant on agriculture and the aerospace sector. And two potential missteps by McMorris Rodgers—one involving an attack ad many felt was unfair, and the other a fund-raising visit by the controversial House Intelligence Committee chairman, Devin Nunes—have only added to the drama.
In one of Washington’s so-called jungle primaries, in which the top-two vote getters win regardless of party, McMorris Rodgers drew slightly more than 49 percent of the vote, with Brown less than four points behind her. A “Trump populist” and two other Republicans took 5 percent between them.
