The Inlander9%
Regardless of which two candidates move forward after the primary, a Republican will replace Rep. Suzanne Schmidt in Washington’s 4th District 4%
By Colton Rasanen12%
7/30/2026, 1:30:00 AM
Keywords: Elections
BS Summary: This article contains 9 faulty reasoning types, including Availability Heuristic, False Dilemma, and Appeal to Authority, with Halo Effect as the most egregious example at 6.5% saturation with 73 hits. Analysis detected 314 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,115 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 13.1% and a BS Rank of 4% (25,269 of 26,281 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 96.10% of the article peer group.
Soon after Spokane County Board of County Commissioners Chair Mary Brooks announced that she would not run for reelection, Republican state Rep.
Suzanne Schmidt threw her hat in the ring for that county seat.
The Spokane Valley legislator is popular in the 4th District, which covers that city, east to the state line, and north to around Mount Spokane.
In 2024 Schmidt beat her opponent Kristopher Pockell by nearly 38 points, and she’s been able to work across the aisle to get bills passed.
For example, in the 2025-26 biennium she was the primary sponsor of eight bills that became law; that’s more than any other Inland Northwest Republican representative in the same period.
Four Republicans, including Debra Long, George Wagner, Hillary Pham and Trent Maier, think they’ll be the best person to replace Schmidt in the House.
DISTRICT 4, POSITION 1
DEBRA LONG, 71
Debra Long and her family have lived in Spokane Valley since 1979.
In that time she worked as an accounting manager at Rockwood Retirement Communities, led the Central Valley Fall Craft Fair and served on the Central Valley School Board for 20 years.
In 2023, Long lost her school board reelection bid to Stephanie Jerdon but she says she never lost that public servant spirit.
She decided to run for election in the 4th District due to increased taxes and the cost of living in the state.
“The tipping point was the income tax,” Long says, referring to the state’s recent millionaire’s tax.
“I know I voted [an income tax] down three times.
… Personally, I want it to go away.”
If elected, Long wants to audit every penny the state receives and spends to ensure there isn’t fraud (something the state auditor’s office does).
“I want to know where we are spending this money and are we duplicating systems,” she says.
“I don’t know why we have it all so convoluted that nobody can figure out where the money is going.
… So I want to get in there and I want to touch and feel it so we can work together to make a difference.”
GEORGE WAGNER, 51
George Wagner was 5 years old when his family moved from Houston to the Spokane area and he’s considered the region home ever since.
The 21-year Navy veteran and owner of Boise-based Solid Ground Hardwood Flooring retired to Newman Lake in 2021.
Wagner says he’s always had an interest in politics and hopes if voters choose him he can be a leader like former Rep.
Lynn Schindler, who represented the 4th District from 1998 to 2008 and died at age 74 in 2018.
To tackle the state’s affordability issue, Wagner says he hopes to repeal the Climate Commitment Act, which the conservative-leaning think tank Washington Policy Center estimates adds about 52 cents per gallon of gas.
“I don’t see how you can measure ozone depletion,” Wagner says.
“I think being responsible stewards of the environment means you don’t do things to excess.
You take care of the things that are around you and the things that you can control.”
He says he’d also focus on education if elected, but when asked to specify how he would improve the state’s schools, Wagner argues the state’s power imbalance between Republicans and Democrats means any legislation he might put forth would be shot down.
HILLARY PHAM, 30
After serving five years at Fairchild Air Force Base, Hillary Pham began working as Republican state Rep.
Rob Chase’s legislative assistant in 2024.
With two legislative sessions under her belt and her boss’ seatmate not running for reelection, Pham feels that now is the best time for her candidacy.
“My campaign is about unity and about inspiring the next generation to run for office,” Pham says.
“I’m really hoping that my unique candidacy as a young Republican will inspire a new voter base that usually stays out of the election.”
Pham says affordability and housing — she specifically wants to create better pathways to home ownership — are her top priorities.
She says the Climate Commitment Act is a “huge monster” for the state’s residents and as a legislator she would want to change pieces of it, rather than repeal it.
(She would not elaborate on which parts of the law need to change, saying it’s too complex.)
“I’m going to make sure that I go out in the community and ask for feedback and what people are concerned about,” she says, adding that she would love to start a working group filled with local stakeholders to better understand how to make the state more affordable.
TRENT MAIER, 45
Trent Maier is accustomed to change.
About 20 years ago he moved to Pullman for a job at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories but after a few years, he changed paths and went to culinary school in Seattle.
Currently, Maier is the treasurer for the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce and co-owns Trailbreaker Cider in Liberty Lake.
“I have been pretty nose to the grindstone with our business ventures over the last 20 years, and I’ve honestly been able to take a little bit of a breath … this year,” Maier says, explaining why he’s running for office.
Changing tax policy that makes it expensive for small businesses to operate in the state and increasing capital funding for public safety in Eastern Washington counties are two of Maier’s top priorities.
“In small businesses it’s getting very difficult to make a buck, and I don’t know what the state’s plan looks like … but I think we need to start this conversation, probably before now, but certainly in the next two years,” he says.
“We need a little more input from our leaders and from people who are truly experts, not just those with political agendas.”
DISTRICT 4, POSITION 2, ROBERT3
Rob, Bob and Rob walk into the Spokane County Elections Office… there’s not really a joke here, they all just filed for election in the 4th District’s race for position two.
Republican Rep.
Rob Chase — you may have read about his plan to split the state in two — currently holds the seat.
After losing the seat to now-Sen.
Leonard Christian in 2022, Chase returned to office once he beat Democrat Ted Cummings by 27 points in 2024.
Chase’s opponents in the primary include Bob Curtis, a retired Republican who spent decades in the Army and at the Department of Homeland Security, and Rob Tupper, a Democrat who earned a teaching degree at Whitworth University and worked a handful of different careers before retiring in 2024.
Speakers
4speakers30%attributed speech781writer words
Selected voice
61%flagged-word coverageTrent Maier
106 attributed words32% of attributed speech22% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
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