Emry Dingman / The Spokesman-Review (TNS)
As candidates vying to represent Eastern Washington in Congress try to stand out in a crowded field, several are traveling far from their districts to show their commitment to issues that need to be addressed in Washington, D.C.
But do these trips, which include two to the border and one to Ukraine, provide needed perspective or are they simply political ploys?
Spokane City Councilman Jonathan Bingle was the first visitor, traveling to Santa Cruz County, Arizona (south of Tucson and just north of the U.S.-Mexico border) in early March.
The border has been a central focus this election season, especially for Republicans. The issue has been such a hot topic among GOP candidates that in April, at the Spokane County Republican Conference, multiple candidates acknowledged that their positions on the border were largely the same, arguing that their positions on the border don’t help voters see their differences.
But a month earlier, Bingle had traveled to the border and spoken to law enforcement and Border Patrol in the area, seeking to draw a distinction. He met with Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway and Border Patrol agents while touring the border wall, and in an interview with KHQ at the time, argued that while most people who cross the border illegally are simply looking for work, some pose a threat to Americans. He also highlighted the human cost to the migrants themselves, pointing out the wreaths and crosses dotting the border marking those who have died on the perilous journey.
In a recent interview, he acknowledged that he hopes the trip will send a message to voters ahead of the August primary, but he also argued that it’s an opportunity to form his own opinion by seeing the situation firsthand.
“You can learn a lot in the classroom, but when you get out in the field you see the difference between theory and practice,” Bingle said.
In March, Spokane County Treasurer Michael Baumgartner, who is running for the same seat, called Bingle’s visit a “political ploy,” likened it to a spring break getaway, and said Bingle should focus on the issues facing the city of Spokane. Baumgartner then traveled to Yuma, Arizona, at the invitation of Morgan Ortagus, who served as State Department spokesperson under former President Donald Trump, to meet with Border Patrol agents, various politicians, and Chad Wolf, Trump’s acting secretary of Homeland Security.
Baumgartner argued in a news release that President Joe Biden’s administration has failed to secure the border, pointing to sections of border wall that are deteriorated or not yet installed and the destabilizing effect that the large number of illegal crossings has on the Mexican government.
Baumgartner claimed he overheard four Syrian immigrants, some of whom he speaks Arabic, saying they were going to cross into Washington state after going through Border Patrol processing.
“Other nationalities entering the country that night included Ecuadorians, Venezuelans and Chinese,” he said in a press release. “It is disturbing that so many people are entering our country without proper vetting, including many from countries that pose a significant threat to our national security.”
Like Bingle, Baumgartner highlighted the dangers of organized crime and the border crossing itself for those seeking a new life in the United States.
Baumgartner argued that his journey shouldn’t be compared to Bingle’s.
“I was there with a very high-ranking delegation,” Baumgartner said, “and I think it was clear from Jonathan Bingle’s social media posts at the time that he was there for spring break and happened to take a photo near the border.”
Unlike Bingle, Baumgartner was invited to Arizona and traveled to learn about local issues, not for campaign purposes, he said, though he acknowledged paying for the trip with campaign funds.
In a recent interview, Bingle said Baumgartner’s comments were offensive not to him, but to those who met with him.
“Obviously, I wasn’t meeting with President Trump’s secretaries or anything, I was meeting with people who actually do the work,” Bingle said. “Michael Baumgartner has been on spring break since he was elected Secretary of the Treasury. I work on the front lines every day for the city of Spokane and I don’t want to hear about spring break.”
The third Republican running for the seat, state Rep. Jacqueline Macumber, called Baumgartner a hypocrite and suggested his visit was just a political stunt.
“As a former law enforcement officer and state legislator, I understand and have witnessed these policies and will continue to protect our country, our communities and Spokane Washington families,” Macumber said in a statement, adding that “you don’t need to go to the border to film a commercial” to understand the impact on Spokane families.
She pointed to a list of endorsements from sheriffs in the districts in which she is running, which she revealed at a recent news conference in Spokane.
Republican candidates are not the only ones traveling abroad as part of their election campaigns. Bernadine Bank, an obstetrician-gynecologist running for a Democratic congressional seat, entered Ukraine from the Polish border in mid-April. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has become a political hotbed of hotspots, as has the US-Mexico border. On April 23, Congress passed a $95 billion bill to provide war aid to Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, but it had been stalled since February due to growing calls from conservatives for investment in strengthening the US-Mexico border.
In a recent interview, Bank noted that there are about 30,000 Ukrainian Americans in Spokane County, most of whom are Christian refugees who immigrated to the U.S. to escape religious persecution.
“There are 30,000 Ukrainians in this county alone who have friends and family living through the war every day,” Bank said. “I think it’s important to bring attention to that.”
She visited Lviv and Kyiv, where she witnessed daily military funeral processions and a program to implant prosthetic limbs for soldiers who had lost limbs. She installed a phone app that alerts residents to incoming bombs and other munitions, and shared a recent notification informing residents to immediately head to bomb shelters or providing instructions if no shelters were nearby.
Bank argued that the United States and Western nations have broader protection obligations to Ukraine under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which the United States, Britain and other countries guaranteed security guarantees to Ukraine and other former Soviet republics in exchange for nuclear disarmament.
“One of the goals of this trip was to remind people of that piece of history and to remind them of our obligations and how important it is to keep those promises,” Bank said.
Bank also urged opponents to visit Ukraine, arguing that Bingle and Baumgartner’s border visit may have provided some needed perspective. Bingle said the same about Bank’s visit.
“If she meets the Ukrainian people and inspects the situation there, I will commend her for her actions,” he said.
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