Orion Donovan-Smith

Current Position: reporter

Orion Donovan-Smith came to The Spokesman-Review in June 2020 through a grant received from the Report For America reporter program. He is the legislative reporter in our Washington, DC Bureau. All of Orion's stories are available without a subscription on The Spokesman-Review's website, and can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license.

Email: orionds@spokesman.com
Phone: (202) 853-2524
Twitter: Twitter

Funding Information

Local journalism is essential.

Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are not tax deductible, but are predominately used to help meet the local financial requirements needed to receive national matching-grant funds.

Most Recent Stories

News

With Culp telling supporters not to back Newhouse, can Democrat Doug White pull off an upset?

Sun., Aug. 7, 2022

Just after 9 p.m. Tuesday, as Loren Culp was leaving his election night party at Rick’s Eatery in Moses Lake, one of the restaurant’s patrons wanted to make it clear not everyone in the Central Washington’s 4th congressional district agrees with far-right candidates like Culp who have come to dominate the Republican Party.

News > WA Government

With Newhouse and White poised to survive primary, Culp blames ‘spoiler candidates’ for dividing Trump-aligned voters

Thu., Aug. 4, 2022

As incumbent Rep. Dan Newhouse was poised to advance through the 4th congressional district primary despite voting to impeach former President Donald Trump, on Wednesday his fellow Republican Loren Culp, who was endorsed by Trump, blamed his third-place finish on a crowded field of Trump-aligned candidates.

News > WA Government

Dan Newhouse, despite impeachment vote, appears to survive contentious primary for Central Washington congressional seat

UPDATED: Tue., Aug. 2, 2022

MOSES LAKE – After a crowded and contentious race that saw eight candidates vie to represent Central Washington’s 4th district in Congress, four-term Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, appeared poised to emerge from Tuesday’s top-two primary along with Yakima businessman Doug White, the only Democrat in the race.

News > Washington

Candidates make their final pitches in drama-filled primary for Central Washington’s 4th congressional district

UPDATED: Tue., Aug. 2, 2022

SELAH, Wash. – On Sunday, Jerrod Sessler stood at the pulpit of the Bible Baptist Church in this Yakima County farming town and explained what may be the craziest race in Washington’s primary election that concludes Tuesday.

News > Pacific NW

Loren Culp doesn’t care about GOP unity. What will it mean if he’s the party’s nominee for Congress?

Sun., July 31, 2022

MOXEE, Washington – At a meeting in Moses Lake held by the Republican Women of Grant County last December, county GOP chairman Mike McKee asked a leading candidate for Congress what he would do to unify a “splintered and fractured” party.

News > Washington

At campaign stop in Moxee, Loren Culp promises to ‘send Newhouse to the outhouse’

UPDATED: Fri., July 29, 2022

MOXEE, Wash. – On Friday night, just four days before Washington’s primary election, Loren Culp stood in the middle of a restaurant in this Yakima suburb and told his supporters exactly what they wanted to hear.

News > WA Government

In Central Washington’s 4th district, Dan Newhouse’s re-election hopes rest on voters getting over impeachment vote

UPDATED: Wed., July 27, 2022

OKANOGAN, Wash. – After Rep. Dan Newhouse voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump for inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, local GOP leaders in his Central Washington district called for the four-term Republican to resign.

News

McMorris Rodgers, House Democrats back compromise to pass historic privacy bill. But will Cantwell let it pass?

Mon., July 25, 2022

WASHINGTON – Congress appears closer than ever to passing sweeping legislation that would set national standards for how tech companies collect and use Americans’ personal data, but that won’t happen unless two Washington lawmakers can get on the same page.

News > Nation/World

The Jan. 6 committee has made its case against Donald Trump. Does it matter to Republican voters?

Sun., July 24, 2022

WASHINGTON – The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol held its eighth hearing Thursday evening, a prime-time television spectacle that capped off a series of presentations detailing former President Donald Trump’s actions before, during and after the riot.