SEATTLE (AP) – Jaime Herrera Beutler spent a decade in Congress as a moderate and discreet Republican who avoided heated party battles. That changed with Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.
The Washington state congresswoman was at the center of a debate on Saturday in the Senate over whether the former president rejected lawmakers’ calls for help when her supporters invaded the US Capitol on January 6.
Her statement on Friday claiming that Trump rejected a request by minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., revoked Trump’s Senate trial and sparked a fight over calling Herrera Beutler as a witness. That result was averted by a last-minute bargain between Democratic prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers.
Herrera Beutler, 42, has not spent her career seeking that kind of attention.
She was first elected to Washington’s 3rd Congressional District in 2010, emphasizing her humble roots and connecting with voters in describing how she and her husband were tenants, while still saving money to buy her first home.
As a state legislator, she defeated a much better-known Democratic opponent to win the US House seat, which includes rural southwestern Washington, as well as the more liberal suburbs of northern Portland, Oregon.
The oldest of her three children, Abigail, was born prematurely in 2013 and without kidneys. Herrera Beutler has been working to help other families facing long-term medical crises and has pushed for legislation to make childcare more accessible.
Herrera Beutler, a Hispanic in a party that has been struggling to win over Hispanic voters, was immediately seen as a rising Republican star in a state with no viable Republican candidates.
But she never ran for the Senate or governor of the United States and did not appear as much on the news as Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, another Washington congresswoman, who took a leadership position and became a national figure.
Then the focus found Herrera Beutler.
Her statement on Friday night said McCarthy told her he spoke to Trump while the rioters were invading the Capitol. She said McCarthy publicly asked Trump to “end the riot” and he told Trump that the violent crowd was made up of Trump supporters, not extreme left-wing antifa members.
In his statement, posted on Twitter, Herrera Beutler said: “That’s when, according to McCarthy, the president said, ‘Well, Kevin, I think these people are more upset about the election than you are.’”
She then called people with knowledge of Trump’s conversation with McCarthy to speak.
“And for the patriots who were at the side of the former president while these talks were going on, or even for the former vice president: if you have something to add here, now would be the time,” she said.
She came to Congress in the tea party-dominated class, but Herrera Beutler has been a classic Republican, although more willing than most to challenge Trump and other far-right Republican Party figures. She voted against Trump’s pressure to revoke the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, but favored abortion and weapons restrictions.
In the past two election cycles, Democrats have longed for Herrera Beutler, hoping they could retake their House seat by linking it to Trump. But in 2018 and 2020, Beutler won, defeating a well-funded opponent and running ahead of Trump in his district.
Herrera Beutler emphasized her willingness to work occasionally in the hall and listen to the other side. In 2018, she was one of the few Republicans who voted against renewing the federal government’s warrantless surveillance program.
She voted against Trump’s impeachment in 2019. But she was one of 10 members of the US House Republican Party who voted to impeach the former president for his role in the January 6 riot.
Like other Republicans who broke with Trump, Herrera Beutler was condemned by her local and state party.
Herrera Beutler said people should not be surprised by his recent statements about the impeachment and his conversation with McCarthy.
“Since I publicly announced my decision to vote for impeachment, I have shared these details in numerous conversations with constituents and colleagues, and several times through the media and other public forums,” she said.
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This story has been corrected to reflect that Herrera Beutler represents Washington’s 3rd Congressional District.