Rep. Newhouse on Voting Rights Push

Rep. Dan Newhouse, one of the 10 House Republicans to impeach Trump, joins Sarah and ...

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Rep. Dan Newhouse, one of the 10 House Republicans to impeach Trump, joins Sarah and Steve on today’s podcast. They discuss why he is against Biden’s new voting rights legislation and how much influence the federal government should have over elections. Plus, the congressman talks about his view of the filibuster, and the rightward shift of rural America.

Show Notes:

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  1. Avatar photo
    Clifford from WA

    I was excited to see you interviewed my rep! I really appreciated Steve pointing out that many of the top concerns of the western caucus are not things that end up in the national conversation.
    So besides Newhouse actually trying to focus on legislation instead of media attention, another reason I think Newhouse is often out of the spotlight is because the legislation he focuses on isn't "sexy". I think he has actually gotten a descent amount of proposed bills to the floor and even passed.
    Something I wish they would have asked Newhouse about is reforming the Electoral Count Act

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  2. Mike Darnell

    Steve: on two back to back questions he avoided your question of what he thought about absentee/mail-in voting.

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      Slp

      Did he? Washington State has mail-in voting as the major form of voting. Polls are open for some period (?) for the relatively few who prefer or have another reason to vote in person. Ballots are mailed to all registered voters. Rep Newhouse said several times he has complete confidence in Washington States voting.

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      1. Mike Darnell

        Steve asked him twice what he thought about mail-in voting. My assumption was Steve wanted to know what Newhouse thought about the efficacy or risk for fraud that it has. I like expanded early voting and Polls For Souls expansion but despise absentee/mail-in voting. As a retired healthcare worker who has experience in home health, nursing homes and assisted care facilities I believe that millions of votes are cast by registered voters who who never see the ballot or would not know what it was if placed in their hands. Relatives, neighbors, ballot harvesters, you name them are the ones who mark the vote. This is a problem that is bipartisan.

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    Ben Connelly

    “I never really knew what a vote of conscience was until I took that vote.”

    Powerful words. If I could, I’d want to add my voice to those who have expressed gratitude to the Congressman. I’m a very conservative voter and I’d tell him, “Thank you, Congressman, for voting the way you did! You’re a good man and a good Congressman. I wish we had more like you.”

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    Robert Knudson

    I really appreciate the interviews with Members of the House and Senate.

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    Patrick

    The “drugs coming over the border” and “Mr Biden” thing smacked of some red meat he has to feed to a rural base. But all in all, he sounds like he prefers to work behind the scenes, and we need more of that. Good interview.

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    Ignatius J. Reilly

    Great interview - I was happy to hear from a Republican that I didn't know about who is outspoken about the 2020 elections having a fair and mostly accurate result.

    Sarah, about your doubts about the filibuster...I believe that it is the one of the key institutions that is keeping our country from completely losing its bearings. It prevents administrations with only fleeting control of two of the branches from enacting wish lists that then engender fury. Imagine a world where federal voting regulations are enacted every four years, crammed down on all the states, only to see a completely different set of rules enacted when the next administration with a slim majority in the Senate comes back into power. Now imagine a host of Departments abolished with Republican administrations, only to be revived in a few years and queue the repeat in a few years. These wild swings in legislation with a bare majority would end us.
    Better to leave the legislative filibuster in place and to continue to demand a party/movement win the necessary arguments over time in order to earn a 60-seat majority.
    As a conservative, I want gridlock at the federal level that prevents overreach without a lopsided majority and general attitude in the country that change at that macro level is required. The states have all the power they need to tax and implement policy, whatever that may be…and they have no encumbering filibuster to prevent their local implementation of necessary government policy.

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  7. Cat Rudolph

    What showed in this podcast is Dan Newhouse as the thoughtful, intelligent, diligent human being that Washington residents have been watching for years. He was a hardworking legislator,
    knowledgeable Secretary of Agriculture, and now a member of Congress I whom I have great confidence. President Biden is playing a dangerous, divisive game with Voting Rights legislation, and Newhouse is well positioned to argue against it.

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    Will Roberts

    I largely liked this interview. Really admire him for going as far as he has gone to oppose Trump. Perhaps Democrats would want him to go further. But their ass isn't the one in the fire.

    Again I largely disagreed with his comments on voter suppression and the Dispatch's stance on voter suppression in general. I have found both to be poorly argued and largely turning a blind eye to the incentives the Republican party has to suppress the vote.

    Record high voter turnout. Again it is not about overall voter turnout. It is about writing veiled legislation designed to suppress votes in particular areas. It is more about close elections that can turn on a small margin than overall turnout. This is a invalid point.

    Well we have ID for a whole lot of stuff other than voting. Well to borrow a phrase from the second amendment camp those are not constitutional rights. The right to bear arms is a constitutional right. Conservatives are resistant to a lot of reforms people might call common sense because it is a right and not a privilege like driving. Voting is a right as well yet you don't see Republicans up in arms about making it harder to vote. I think photo ID is a reasonable requirement. The democratic argument is their are a variety of reasons it is hard for poor people and minorities to get a photo ID. If it really is about identifying people Republican Governments could send workers to voters homes to take their picture, check their background, and give them an ID for free. A national firearms database might threaten gun rights the left might add. I think voter ID might secure voting rights. But the franchise is a right. If the government wants to impose a burden on that right they should pay for it.

    I double dog dare the Dispatch to actually have someone on The Dispatch podcast or Advisory Opinions who believes voter suppression is a problem and duke it out. If the facts and reason are on your side you shouldn't be threatened by an ill thought out position that has not evidence.

    Hear that I double dog dare you. What you going to do now Dispatch?

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      KB

      ^^^Agree with you a lot. Sarah asked a great second question and he didn't remotely answer it. This isn't that hard. Republicans are pushing through laws that restrict voting in battleground states after an election that was 1) extremely secure and 2) had a huge turnout. Democrats are trying to counteract these laws. What's so hard to understand about this?

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    Travis M

    I liked the interview for the most part. I wish he would have been a bit more condemnatory towards the insane fringe of the party.

    Buuuuut, I also understand why he wouldn't do that.

    Count my among those who wish Sarah would have asked some questions about the Texas lawsuit, it would have been interesting to hear his responses. Overall though, this interview was almost enough to make me wish I didn't call him a red coat in my letter to him and the one I sent to the Yakima Herald.

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    Steve Gordon

    Really fantastic interview with a good person. I've gotten to know Rep Newhouse just a bit since his vote in some of our efforts to support his re-election here in WA. He has a heartfelt sense of protecting the institution at the heart of his impeachment vote that is very genuine.

    Steve and Sarah - Thanks for having him on and conducting such a solid interview.

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      BWG

      Yes, I second your thanks to Sarah, Steve, and The Dispatch for inviting him for this interview. As I noted in a comment elsewhere on this post, it was not the most scintillating podcast, but Rep. Newhouse's response to Steve's question, at about 43:30, makes me very glad that I voted for him, and I would certainly vote for him over Culp.

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        Seth B

        I finally took your advice and listened to the last 15 minutes of the interview, which I did appreciate. Thanks for the recommendation.
        "I needed to make a vote of conscience. It's *this* face that I have to look at everyday." Amen to that, Representative Newhouse.
        I do wonder how, say, Mike Gallagher will explain, decades from now, his vote *against* impeachment to his own grandkids when they learn about Trump and 1/6 in school. Will Gallagher uncomfortably rehash some dusty old political talking points that were absurd even at the time? ("Well you see, the actual articles of impeachment were suboptimal, and the way that the Speaker of the House at the time did such and such rubbed me the wrong way, so...") or will he take a deep breath and say "I was young and foolish, and I was so focused on my own career trajectory that I couldn't muster the courage to do what I knew was right."
        I guess that's between him and his conscience. He'll find out eventually. Newhouse at least doesn't have to worry about this.
        I've criticized Newhouse elsewhere in these comments, but If I were in your district, I too would probably vote for him in his re-election bid as a token of thanks for his impeachment vote. (And to help keep Loren Culp, that utter yahoo, out of Congress.)

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