SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane City Councilmember Jonathan Bingle has thrown his hat in the ring for Washington’s 5th Congressional District.
Bingle’s announcement comes on the heels of longtime Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ decision to not run for re-election.
“With the support of my family and friends, I am humbled to begin my campaign for congress.” Bingle said in a statement. “The theme of my campaign is ‘An American Revival.’”
One of two conservative members of the Spokane City Council, Bingle will run as a Republican. In his announcement, he touted recent city accomplishments that received support across the ideological spectrum on the council.
Those include an ordinance to criminalize drug use and possession in public, new rules cracking down on trespassing in parks overnight and Spokane’s well-received changes to zoning laws to encourage building new, denser housing.
While Bingle’s time on the city council has featured a number of legislative accomplishments, he got off to a rocky start with some of his colleagues.
In February of 2022, his first year on the council, his colleagues voted 5-2 to censure him after he refused to wear a mask to work during COVID.
At the time, Bingle called masks tyrannical and said he doubted their effectiveness. He and fellow conservative councilmember Michael Cathcart criticized the process of drawing up the censure as being opaque.
Since then, Bingle steadily took on increasing responsibilities in city hall, at times functioning as a liaison to the Nadine Woodward administration and the city council on issues like creating a regional homelessness coalition.
Bingle is framing his campaign as an “American Revival.” He lists his campaign priorities on a page on his website, touching on everything from small businesses to China and other American adversaries.
Bingle joins fellow Republicans Brian Dansel and John Guenthner in announcing their intents to run for Congress. Democrats Carmela Conroy, Ann Marie Danimus and Bernadine Bank have all announced their candidacies.
