Jaime Lynn Herrera Beutler ( ; born November 3, 1978) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2023. The district is in southwestern Washington, lying across the Columbia River from Oregon's Portland metropolitan area. A Republican, Herrera Beutler previously served in the Washington House of Representatives.
Herrera Beutler was one of ten Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump after the January 6 United States Capitol attack. During Trump's Senate trial, she issued a statement as a witness. This prompted a primary challenge from several Republican candidates. She was eliminated in the 2022 blanket primary, finishing third, and was succeeded by Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
Early life, education, and early career Jaime Lynn Herrera was born in Glendale, California, the daughter of Candice Marie (Rough) and Armando D. Herrera. Her father is of Mexican descent, and her mother has English, Irish, Scottish, and German ancestry. She was raised in Ridgefield, where her father was a lithographer. She was home-schooled through ninth grade, and graduated from Prairie High School, where she played basketball. In 2004, Herrera earned a B.A. in communications from the University of Washington.
Herrera served as an intern in both the Washington State Senate and in Washington, D. C., at the White House Office of Political Affairs. In 2004, she was an intern in the office of Washington State Senator Joe Zarelli, who later supported her campaigns. She was a senior legislative aide to U.S. representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
Washington State House of Representatives
2008 election Herrera moved back to the 18th Legislative District to run for state representative, and was appointed to the Washington House of Representatives in 2007 to replace Richard Curtis, who resigned amid a sex scandal. She won the 2008 election to retain her seat with 60% of the vote.
Tenure Herrera was elected as Assistant Floor Leader, the youngest member of her party's leadership in the State House. Her first sponsored bill gave tax relief to business owners serving in the military. Governor Christine Gregoire signed it into law on March 27, 2008.
During her time in the House, Herrera also opposed Senate Bill 5967, which mandated equal treatment of the sexes in community athletic programs run by cities, school districts, and private leagues.
Committee assignments Health Care and Wellness Human Services Transportation
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections 2010
Herrera ran for when Democratic incumbent Brian Baird retired. She advanced to the general election with 28% of the vote, well ahead of fellow Republican candidates David Hedrick and David Castillo. State Representative Denny Heck, a Democrat, ranked first with 31% of the vote.
Herrera raised over $1.5 million in contributions, 62% of which came from individual contributors and 35% from political action committees. The biggest single contributor was construction and mining contractor Kiewit Corporation, which gave her campaign over $16,000.
During the campaign, she received support from state Republican leaders Cathy McMorris Rodgers and former U.S. senator Slade Gorton. The Columbian called her "a rising star in the Republican Party". In October, Herrera was named one of Time Magazine's 40 under 40: "The Washington Republican survived a Tea Party challenge to win the GOP primary in the Evergreen State's 3rd Congressional District. Now Herrera, a 31-year-old Latina and former congressional staffer, has successfully recast herself as the outsider as she takes on a longtime Democratic pol in November."
In the November general election, Herrera defeated Heck, 53%–47%. She won five of the district's six counties. Heck later represented , serving alongside Herrera.
On December 22, 2010, Herrera announced that she had taken her husband's name and would thenceforth call herself Jaime Herrera Beutler.
2012
Herrera Beutler announced her candidacy for reelection in January 2012. She quickly outraised her two opponents, Democrat Jon Haugen and Independent Norma Jean Stevens. She won the open primary with 61% of the vote. By the end of the campaign, she had raised more than $1.5 million to Haugen's $10,000. She defeated Haugen 60%–40%.
2014
Herrera Beutler ran for reelection in 2014. She faced Republican challenger Michael Delavar and Democratic challenger Bob Dingethal. Dingethal and Herrera Beutler advanced to the general election, where Herrera Beutler defeated Dingethal, 60% to 40%.
2016
In the nonpartisan blanket primary, Herrera Beutler finished first with 55.4% of the vote; Democrat Jim Moeller finished second with 24.4%. In the general election, Herrera Beutler won with 62% of the vote to Moeller's 38%.
2018
In the nonpartisan blanket primary, Herrera Beutler finished first with 40.9% of the vote; Democrat Carolyn Long, a political science professor at Washington State University's Vancouver campus, finished second with 36.6%. Combined, the Democrats in the primary received just over 50% of the vote. In the general election, Herrera Beutler defeated Long with 53% percent of the vote, the closest race since her first campaign. She was one of only two Republicans, the other being Don Young of Alaska, to win a seat west of the Cascades or on the Pacific Coast.
2020
Herrera Beutler received over 56% of the vote in the blanket primary and Long just under 40%, setting up a rematch between the two. In the general election, Herrera Beutler won by a larger margin than in 2018, defeating Long by about 13 points.
2022
Former Green Beret Joe Kent challenged Herrera Beutler in the 2022 top-two primary for Congress. A Trump supporter, Kent ran because of her vote to impeach Trump.Olsen, Tyler. Republicans who voted for impeachment face barrage of pro-Trump primary challengers, Fox News, June 14, 2021. Kent supports claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and has said that Trump bears no responsibility for the storming of the Capitol. In the nonpartisan blanket primary, Herrera Beutler failed to advance to the general election, losing to Kent and Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. On August 9, she conceded, saying, "I’m proud that I always told the truth, stuck to my principles, and did what I knew to be best for our country." Kent went on to lose the general election to Gluesenkamp Perez.
Tenure
In March 2011, Herrera Beutler introduced her first bill to Congress. The Savings Start With Us Act would reduce the salaries of members of Congress, the president, and the vice president by 10%.
After the birth of her daughter Abigail (who was diagnosed with Potter's syndrome) in July 2013, Herrera Beutler announced that she would still be active in the House for key votes, but would dedicate a good deal of time to Abigail's care.
In June 2014, Herrera Beutler proposed the Advancing Care for Exceptional Kids Act, which would help coordinate care for children met with medical complexities in Medicaid. The bill was passed by a committee, but did not get a vote on the House floor.
Herrera Beutler is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership and the Congressional Western Caucus.
In the first impeachment of Donald Trump, on December 18, 2019, Herrera Beutler voted against both articles of impeachment, along with all other voting Republicans. On January 12, 2021, she announced her support for Trump's second impeachment, after the storming of the U.S. Capitol six days earlier, citing "indisputable evidence" that Trump had "acted against his oath of office". She blamed him for inciting the storming and upbraided him for continuing to push lawmakers to object to certifying the results of the presidential election rather than "doing anything meaningful to stop the attack". She called Trump's initial statement denouncing the violence "pathetic". Responding to claims that impeaching Trump would only "inflame Republican voters", Herrera Beutler said that as a Republican herself, she believed that she and other Republicans "will be best served when those among us choose truth". The next day, she and nine other Republican representatives voted to impeach Trump. In response to backlash from Republicans in her district over her vote, Herrera Beutler made several Twitter posts on January 15 expanding on her reasoning, citing "indisputable and publicly available facts" that proved Trump had engaged in impeachable conduct. She said Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy asked Trump to tell the rioters to cease and desist and Trump responded, "Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are."Trump told McCarthy that rioters 'more upset about the election than you are': report, The Hill, Jordan Williamms, February 12, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2021. She told a CNN reporter that the quote showed that "either [Trump] didn't care, which is impeachable, because you cannot allow an attack on your soil, or he wanted it to happen and was OK with it, which makes me so angry."
In March 2021, she voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
On November 30, Herrera Beutler voted in favor of H.R. 550: Immunization Infrastructure Modernization Act of 2021. The bill helps create confidential, population-based databases that maintain a record of vaccine administrations.
Committee assignments Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch (Ranking Member) Joint Economic Committee
Caucus memberships Congressional Hispanic Conference Congressional Taiwan Caucus Republican Main Street Partnership Republican Governance Group Problem Solvers Caucus
Political positions During the 117th United States Congress, which began in 2021, Herrera Beutler voted with her party 90% of the time, ranking her the 35th most bipartisan member of the House. Early on during Trump's first term as president, Herrera Beutler was rated as having voted in line with his position 79.7% of the time. Her partisan reputation softened over the course of her tenure in Congress.
Bio-defense In 2019, the Alliance for Biosecurity, a consortium of companies that develop products to respond to national security threats, gave Herrera Beutler its 2019 Congressional Biosecurity Champion Award. The award is given once a year to a member of Congress who works to improve the country's ability to prevent and combat major bio-security threats to national security.
Budget In April 2011, Herrera Beutler voted for Paul Ryan's budget, which would have lowered taxes for the highest earners from 35% to 25% and made Medicare a voucher system.
Donald Trump In December 2019, Herrera Beutler voted against impeaching President Trump, saying that there was inadequate proof that he engaged in obstruction of justice and abuse of power. In 2021, she voted in favor of Trump's second impeachment in the wake of the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, which she blamed him for inciting.
On May 19, 2021, Herrera Beutler was one of 35 Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the January 6 commission meant to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Healthcare In 2012, during a debate, Herrera Beutler stated that she favored repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA, generally known as Obamacare, which had become law two years previously, in 2010).
Five years later, however, in March 2017, Herrera Beutler indicated that she would vote against the American Health Care Act, a Republican replacement for Obamacare, because of its adverse effects on children who depend on Medicaid.
Immigration