Washington’s two new members of Congress are sworn in

Republican Michael Baumgartner and Democrat Emily Randall became Washington’s newest representatives in Congress on Friday afternoon.

They were sworn in following the session’s first political drama — election of the House speaker — that found the newcomers on opposite sides.

Baumgartner and his Republican colleagues used their narrow majority to reelect House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, on the first vote. Randall and Democrats backed Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, who will be the House minority leader.

Ahead of the speaker vote, Baumgartner called for caucus unity.

“With a tiny Republican majority, we can’t afford to burn clock on a Speaker battle that only throws sand in the gears of a first 100 day agenda that is vital for the security of America,” he wrote Dec. 30 on the social media platform X.

All House members — including Washington’s 10-person contingent — were sworn into office shortly after 1 p.m. Baumgartner and Randall are among 63 new members of the 435-person chamber.

Baumgartner succeeds Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers who retired after two decades representing eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District. The district is bordered by Canada in the north, Oregon in the south and Idaho in the east and encompasses Spokane and some or all of 12 counties.

Baumgartner, who most recently served as Spokane County treasurer and is a former state senator, is one of two Republicans in Washington’s congressional delegation. The other is Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse.

They are soon to be part of a political trifecta, with the GOP controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House following the November election. President-elect Donald Trump’s swearing-in is scheduled for Jan. 20.

As Democrats in western Washington like Gov. Jay Inslee and Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson gnash their teeth, wring their hands and draw up their legal defenses against Trump, residents Baumgartner represents on the east side of the Cascades don’t share such fears and trepidation. They’re looking forward to the GOP being in charge.

Baumgartner, of Spokane, said in a recent interview he “would counsel everyone to turn down the political temperature and focus on actual policies and policymaking.”

He said he’s “most excited” to work with Trump on border security, which Republicans believe they have a mandate to deal with. Baumgartner campaigned on completing the wall along the nation’s southern border, reinstating policies to vet individuals seeking asylum and requiring businesses to use the E-verify program to confirm people are eligible to work.

In the interview, he sidestepped whether he’s good with Trump’s calls for mass deportation of immigrants and ending birthright citizenship. “It takes a whole government approach,” he said, inferring Congress needs to be fully engaged on immigration policy.

The new congressman wants to extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts before they expire next year and roll back federal regulations. And he vowed to do “whatever it takes” to protect the hydropower dams on the Snake River from removal, which environmentalists and tribes have pushed for.

He’s not on board with Trump’s pledge to slap big tariffs on goods from China and other countries. Washington is among the nation’s most trade-dependent states, he noted. “I do have concerns about tariffs and getting into a situation of retaliatory tariffs,” he said

That happened in 2019 when the Trump administration imposed tariffs on Indian steel and aluminum. The country countered with its own taxes on over two dozen goods from the U.S., including apples, chickpeas and lentils. India lifted its retaliatory tariffs a year ago.

Baumgartner said he hopes the path ahead brings less partisan sniping and greater embrace of the federal system with decision-making pushed to the local level so as to “not require everyone to live the same.”

That way, he said, “We can have a unified country and we can successfully continue this great experiment in representative government.”

Randall is following Democratic Rep. Derek Kilmer, who retired after six terms representing the 6th Congressional District encompassing the Olympic Peninsula, the Kitsap Peninsula and much of Tacoma, including the city’s port.

She served in the state Senate prior to winning the congressional seat in November. Randall is the first openly LGBTQ person in Washington’s congressional delegation, and the first queer Latina to serve in Congress.

On Friday, Randall said she will work to defend abortion rights, expand health care access, make housing more affordable, create educational opportunities and protect the environment.

She made clear in a statement that she may be opposing policies put forth by the next president and GOP-led Congress who she said “represent real threats to real people and to the values and rights of communities across the country.”

But Randall said she would “work with colleagues of all parties, from all corners of the country wherever possible.”

“I know our best days are ahead of us, but only when we are willing to work together,” she said.

Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: info@washingtonstatestandard.com. Follow Washington State Standard on Facebook and X.