Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler

Jaime Lynn Herrera Beutler (born November 3, 1978) is an American politician who served as a Representative from Washington in the United States Congress from 2011 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, she represented Washington’s 3rd congressional district, a region in southwestern Washington lying across the Columbia River from Oregon’s Portland metropolitan area. She 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. Herrera Beutler was raised in Ridgefield, Washington, where her father worked as a lithographer. Home-schooled through the ninth grade, she later attended Prairie High School in nearby Vancouver, Washington, where she played basketball and became rooted in the communities she would eventually represent.

After graduating from Prairie High School, Herrera Beutler pursued higher education at the University of Washington in Seattle. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications in 2004, a field of study that complemented her emerging interest in public service and politics. During her college years and immediately afterward, she gained early experience in government through internships and staff positions that introduced her to both state and federal political institutions. These formative roles helped her develop legislative skills and relationships that would shape her subsequent political career.

Herrera Beutler’s early career in public service began with internships in the Washington State Senate and in Washington, D.C., at the White House Office of Political Affairs. In 2004, she served as an intern in the office of Washington State Senator Joe Zarelli, who later became an important supporter of her campaigns. She went on to work as a senior legislative aide to U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican from Washington, gaining direct experience with federal legislative processes and constituent services. In 2007, Herrera moved back to Washington’s 18th Legislative District to run for state representative. That same year, she was appointed to the Washington House of Representatives to replace Representative Richard Curtis, who resigned amid a sex scandal. She subsequently won election in her own right in 2008, retaining the seat with 60% of the vote.

During her tenure in the Washington House of Representatives, Herrera Beutler quickly rose within her party’s ranks. She was elected Assistant Floor Leader, becoming the youngest member of the Republican leadership in the State House. Her first sponsored bill provided tax relief to business owners serving in the military, a measure that Governor Christine Gregoire signed into law on March 27, 2008. She served on committees including Health Care and Wellness, Human Services, and Transportation. During this period, she also took positions on social and policy issues, notably opposing Senate Bill 5967, which mandated equal treatment of the sexes in community athletic programs run by cities, school districts, and private leagues. Her growing profile led party leaders and observers to regard her as a rising figure in Washington state politics.

Herrera Beutler entered federal politics when Democratic U.S. Representative Brian Baird announced his retirement from Washington’s 3rd congressional district. In 2010, she ran for the open seat and advanced from the nonpartisan blanket primary with 28% of the vote, ahead of fellow Republicans David Hedrick and David Castillo, while Democratic State Representative Denny Heck placed first with 31%. Her campaign raised over $1.5 million, with approximately 62% of contributions coming from individuals and 35% from political action committees; the Kiewit Corporation, a construction and mining contractor, was her largest single contributor, giving over $16,000. She received support from prominent state Republicans, including Cathy McMorris Rodgers and former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton. The Columbian newspaper described her as “a rising star in the Republican Party,” and in October 2010 Time magazine named her to its “40 Under 40” list, noting that the 31-year-old Latina and former congressional staffer had survived a Tea Party challenge and recast herself as an outsider in the race. In the November 2010 general election, she defeated Denny Heck by a margin of 53% to 47%, winning five of the district’s six counties. On December 22, 2010, she announced that she had taken her husband’s surname and would henceforth be known as Jaime Herrera Beutler.

Herrera Beutler took office in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 3, 2011, beginning the first of six consecutive terms in Congress. From 2011 to 2023, she contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of her constituents in Washington’s 3rd congressional district. She announced her candidacy for reelection in January 2012 and quickly outraised her opponents, Democrat Jon Haugen and Independent Norma Jean Stevens. In the 2012 open primary she received 61% of the vote and went on to defeat Haugen in the general election, 60% to 40%, after raising more than $1.5 million compared to Haugen’s $10,000. In 2014, she again ran for reelection, facing Republican Michael Delavar and Democrat Bob Dingethal; Herrera Beutler and Dingethal advanced to the general election, where she prevailed 60% to 40%. In a subsequent election cycle, she finished first in the nonpartisan blanket primary with 55.4% of the vote, ahead of Democrat Jim Moeller’s 24.4%, and then defeated Moeller in the general election with 62% to 38%.

In the later stages of her congressional career, Herrera Beutler continued to secure reelection while navigating an increasingly polarized political environment. In one primary, she finished first with 40.9% of the vote, followed by Democrat Carolyn Long with 36.6%; combined, Democratic candidates received just over 50% of the primary vote. In the ensuing general election, she defeated Long with 53% of the vote, marking the closest race since her initial campaign. That year, she was one of only two Republicans—along with Don Young of Alaska—to win a seat west of the Cascade Range or on the Pacific Coast. In a rematch with Long two years later, Herrera Beutler received over 56% of the vote in the blanket primary to Long’s just under 40%, and she expanded her margin in the general election, defeating Long by approximately 13 percentage points. Throughout these terms, she remained a Republican representative from Washington, consistently engaged in legislative deliberations and constituent representation during a period of intense national debate over economic policy, health care, and the role of the federal government.

Herrera Beutler’s most nationally visible moment came during the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, United States Capitol attack. She was one of ten House Republicans who voted on January 13, 2021, to impeach President Donald J. Trump for incitement of insurrection. During Trump’s subsequent Senate impeachment trial, she issued a statement as a witness regarding conversations involving House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and President Trump on the day of the attack. Her vote to impeach Trump and her public statements during the trial prompted a strong backlash within segments of her party and led to a primary challenge from several Republican candidates. In the 2022 top-two nonpartisan blanket primary, she faced, among others, former Green Beret Joe Kent, a Trump-aligned candidate who supported claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and asserted that Trump bore no responsibility for the storming of the Capitol. In that primary, Herrera Beutler failed to advance to the general election, finishing behind Kent and Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. On August 9, 2022, she conceded the race, stating, “I’m proud that I always told the truth, stuck to my principles, and did what I knew to be best for our country.” Her term concluded on January 3, 2023, and she was succeeded by Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, marking the end of her twelve-year tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives.