On the campaign trail, Trump promised to lower costs overall. Yet families in Washington have had to spend an additional $4,800+ under Trump on housing, groceries, energy, healthcare.

The inaccuracies were not random. Again and again, they omitted or misstated facts that complicated the policies and positions Baumgartner was defending.

September 9, 2026 CD-5 candidates Michael Baumgartner and Carmela Conroy participated in a candidate forum sponsored by The Spokesman-Review and KSPS-PBS . It was hosted before a live audience in the Bing Crosby Theater in Spokane. Watch the recorded video courtesy of KSPS-PBS.

Washington residents who are self-employed or recently retired will pay much higher prices in 2027 if they want to keep health insurance. Those people who rely on insurance exchanges, which also include employers with less than 50 employees, are expected to face an average of 22.2% higher premiums.

Independent Nate Powell built a coalition that united progressives and traditional Democrats, and pulled in disenchanted Republicans around the singular cause to unseat incumbent Michael Baumgartner.

The 2026 primary highlights a movement away from the Republican incumbent in WA-5 for the first time in over thirty-two years.

Robert Reich provides 10 recommendations for actions to support our communities, protect immigrants, mobilize for the midterms, boycott certain companies, obtain and spread the truth, push for progressive measures, and more.

Jerry Leclaire, Indivisible—The High Ground

Baumgartner wrote that he was “proud to vote YES on the SAVE America Act”. The Act would would make it harder to register, harder to vote, harder to vote by mail. In CD5 roughly two-thirds of eligible voters lack the standalone credential the bill would require.

The hallmark of a democracy is free and fair elections… Why would you disenfranchise 20 million people?