Ten Candidates in eastern Washington are challenging Rep. Michael Baumgartner in Washington’s easternmost congressional district.
Baumgartner, who is seeking his second term in Washington’s fifth district, is facing a challenge from six Democratic candidates and four independent candidates. The freshman member of Congress introduced the Power and Water Families Act of 2026, legislation that would require AI data centers to pay the full cost of power and water infrastructure needed to service them.
“If a massive new data center needs new power plants, transmission lines, grid upgrades, or water infrastructure, it should pay its own way,” Baumgartner said. “This bill protects ratepayers, encourages new generation, and helps communities conserve local water resources.”
Baumgartner told The Center Square during a recent press availability that moratoriums on AI data centers, like those proposed in Spokane, are meant to be local community discussions.
Carmela Conroy, a Democrat and former U.S. Foreign Service official, is challenging Baumgartner again, after losing to him in the 2024 general election. She said Baumgartner’s track record supporting the Trump administration has harmed the fifth congressional district and has given her a greater opportunity to flip the seat.
“He was actually far more conservative than his predecessor was and he would act in ways that would harm our district,” Conroy said. “All through 2025 even into 2026, that certainly has proved to be the case.”
Conroy criticized Baumgartner’s vote for the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a signature piece of tax legislation that included various priorities for Republicans in Congress including tax cuts and healthcare reform. She said vulnerable populations and rural hospitals in the district will be at risk of losing healthcare coverage and funding because of the bill’s cuts to Medicaid.
Conroy said 11 rural hospitals in the district will likely lose 25% of their income with the cuts to Medicaid.
“I don’t know very many businesses that could lose 25% or more of their income and still survive,” Conroy said. “These are not for-profit hospitals. They’re operating on very, very narrow margins.”
Baumgartner has touted his vote on the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and its efforts to relieve tax burdens through no tax on tips and no tax on overtime programs. Baumgartner said the legislation has also worked to combat fraud in federal programs, but admitted Washington’s state policies have led to large amounts of fraud in federal programs.
He said the state government often allows itself to get caught up in large lawsuits when federal funds are administered poorly that take significant sums of money from taxpayers.
“We’ve done a lot to stem fraud but most people in Washington state think there is a lot more there and we’ll look forward to the Department of Justice looking into some of those things,” Baumgartner told The Center Square.
Richard Freudenberg, an former Air Force servicemember is also running as a Democrat in the race against Baumgartner. He said he was motivated to run because of the Trump administration’s military actions in Venezuela and Iran.
He told The Center Square the administration’s strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean were unlawful and irresponsible.
“It’s assumed that someone in the chain of command is going to give you or support your position of following the law,” Freudenberg said. “We don’t break laws, but we had the president of the United States and the Secretary of Defense saying this.”
Nate Powell, a firefighter and independent running in the district, also said he was motivated by the cuts to Medicaid in the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” He called for a single-payer healthcare system through the expansion of Medicare for All.
“If we bring every single person onto a Medicare for all system, it will spread that risk out the way that insurance is designed to spread risk amongst the population,” Powell said. “Every single person would have health care. It would just be a more streamlined, efficient system than what we are working with now.”
Baumgartner leads in fundraising among all candidates with more than $953,000 in cash on hand. He received $57,080 over the last year from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee PAC; $2,000 from Blackrock Funds Services Group PAC; and $2,000 from the Turkish American Coalition PAC.
Powell, an independent candidate, follows Baumgartner with more than $110,000 in cash on hand. He received more than $3,631 from Brian Jacobson, a programmer at Valve Corporation; and more than $6,000 from Michael Novogratz, founder of Galaxy Digital.
Conroy follows behind Baumgartner and Powell with more than $74,000 in cash on hand. More than $223,000 in contributions to Conroy are from ActBlue, a financial services coordinator for Democratic and progressive candidates.
Bajun Mavalwalla, another Democrat running to unseat Baumgartner, has $14,000 in cash on hand. He launched his campaign following the FBI’s arrest of his son, who was protesting ICE.
Mavalwalla said Baumgartner has not represented rural areas in the fifth congressional district.
“I believe in a representative democracy, you represent all of your constituents,” Malvalla said. “Not just the ones in your party, not just the ones that live in the city, not just the ones that live in the country either, but you represent all of them.”
