Baumgartner ‘paints it red’ with re-election fundraiser alongside guest speaker, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan

The din of 200 protesters outside was imperceptible in the Davenport Grand event room, where hundreds of Republican lawmakers and key supporters gathered for the biggest re-election fundraiser yet for freshman Congressman Michael Baumgartner.

The party has had a remarkable year in D.C., where the president and Republican majorities successfully approved the “Big Beautiful Bill,” launched a campaign of mass deportations and renewed border security, in line with their promises to their voters last year.

And while those policies have proven contentious, driving near-constant protests whenever Baumgartner has made public appearances in Spokane, they also appeared to have animated confidence inside the Davenport Grand on Sunday, with Baumgartner and allies hopeful to overcome the odds and retain power in next year’s midterms.

Baumgartner has, as recently as last year’s campaign, acknowledged the daylight between his brand of the Republican Party and that of President Donald Trump. A product of a Harvard education and student of global affairs seemingly cut from the cloth of Bush-era conservatism, Baumgartner on Sunday demonstrated a closeness with the president and the MAGA movement, symbolized by the marquee presence of guest speaker Congressman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

Ultimately a fundraiser for Baumgartner’s re-election campaign, the event was a hodgepodge of a victory lap, a presentation on the sausage-making of federal politics and politicking, a peek at the personal peculiarities of various lawmakers, and a recollection of grievances with the political left. Jordan spoke at length about the 2017 “Russiagate,” for instance, arguing Democrats and former President Barack Obama had manipulated and weaponized intelligence suggesting Russia had interfered in the presidential election on Trump’s behalf.

“Remember the left is crazy,” Jordan said. “It’s crazy to defund the police, it’s crazy to let a man play in women’s sports, it’s crazy not to have a border. It’s crazy to let a Chinese spy balloon fly across the country. … I bet Baumgartner would have shot it down.”

The focus of celebration Sunday night was the “Big Beautiful Bill,” the landmark 2025 fiscal package approved by a narrow Republican majority in July which the congressman and guest speakers highlighted for its tax cuts.

Baumgartner explained the necessity of the reconciliation process to avoid a filibuster and approve that bill, for example.

Jordan, a regular on Fox News and notable message-maker for the Republican party, spoke at length about the challenges of political messaging.

“Our business is a communication business,” Jordan mused Sunday, explaining with some joy the maneuvering necessary in framing a message to the media or questioning a witness in front of Congress and the C-SPAN cameras.

“What I try to do with the big hearings is work backwards, what do you want the press saying?” Jordan added. “My favorite is what I call the punch in the face question. You ask the question … and you don’t even care what they say. What’s important is the question.”

Speakers argued Washington state could benefit from the politics on the rise in Washington , D.C. Alluding to the current use of National Guard troops to crack down on violent crime in D.C., former Mayor Nadine Woodward suggested Spokane would also benefit from a military crackdown to take back its streets.

The fundraiser dinner, with a minimum requested donation of $75 and top donor categories in the thousands, was called “Paint it Red,” an homage to the efforts to maintain and expand the Republican majority.

“We’re not only going to keep Eastern Washington red; we’re going to spread it to the rest of the state,” Baumgartner said.

Woodward and fellow former Spokane Mayor David Condon helped to highlight the work of conservatives and the need to fund those efforts, but Jordan presented the most dramatic depiction of the stakes.

“What’s at stake going into 2026?” Jordan said. “Real simple. We don’t win.”

Key figures in the Republican party, whether Elon Musk or the president himself, would be personally targeted if that were to happen, Jordan warned.

Baumgartner won’t suffer from empty campaign coffers next year. He easily outraised his many competitors in the crowded 2024 election to replace retiring Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, totaling more than $1.3 million in campaign contributions by the end of the election season. More than a year before the 2026 midterms, his re-election campaign has already raised more than $460,000 and spent over $210,000.

Eastern Washington Impact Awards

Baumgartner also celebrated five regional residents with “Eastern Washington Impact Awards,” implicitly, if not explicitly, a celebration of prominent conservatives or symbols of a Republican cause.

These include some of the more significant Republican donors in Spokane, such as Cindy Zapotocky, the former chair of the Spokane County GOP and “mentor to conservative candidates” who Baumgartner credited in part with his successful entrance into politics. Also celebrated was Barry Baker, who Baumgartner described as a personal friend and who serves as chairman of Baker Construction and Development and is a member of several area boards, such as the Modern Electric Water Company, which declined to pass along state-funded rebates to its poorest customers in 2024 due to partisan political concerns.

The other honorees include anti-progressive activist Sheldon Jackson, the CEO of Selkirk Development, who has recently become a champion for Trump’s calls to institutionalize the chronically homeless; Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner, who is currently being sued by Washington State for allegedly coordinating with federal immigration enforcers in violation of state law; and Lauren Matthew, a West Valley High School student athlete who placed second at the 2025 2A 400-meter dash, losing to a transgender East Valley student athlete, Veronica Garcia.

As transgender athletes in school sports have become an increasingly prominent issue in conservative politics, Baumgartner has used Matthew’s story to highlight how young women deserve “the chance to compete on a level playing field and have her hard work honored,” as he stated in a June speech on the House floor.

Baumgartner’s recognition of Matthew as “the rightful state champion” inspired perhaps the loudest and longest applause of the awards ceremony.