SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — With less than a month until the November election, the race for Eastern Washington’s congressional seat has become a battleground, according to a national Democratic organization that says the contest is now competitive despite Republicans holding the seat for more than three decades.
Voters in Eastern Washington are focused on one overarching concern: the rising cost of living and skyrocketing gas prices that continue to strain household budgets.
Gas prices in Spokane remain over $5 per gallon on average, according to AAA data. Many residents say addressing affordability must become a top priority for whoever represents them in Congress.
Both candidates acknowledge the urgency. Democratic candidate Carmela Conroy and Republican incumbent Michael Baumgartner have made lowering costs central to their campaigns, but their proposed paths diverge significantly.
Supply-Side Solutions vs. Wage Policy
Baumgartner believes the answer lies in increasing supply across all sectors of the economy.
“The way to bring down costs is to increase supply of whatever you want to purchase. Whether that’s housing, food, gas, increase the supply to bring down cost. We’re doing a lot of that at the national level,” Baumgartner said.
To achieve this, Baumgartner wants to encourage American manufacturing and reduce reliance on China for trade goods. He also advocates for creating more oil refineries in the United States to boost energy supply.
Conroy takes a different approach, focusing on wage policy as a tool to address cost-of-living pressures. She argues that raising the federal minimum wage and indexing it to inflation would help workers afford basic necessities and reduce the incentive for businesses to relocate to states with lower labor costs.
“Standardizing that, pinning it to inflation so that congress only has to be brave once. Then every American worker is guaranteed a living wage, that would be the way to do that,” Conroy said.
Conroy proposes raising the federal minimum wage to $26 to account for inflation since the last increase. She contends this would level the playing field for workers and discourage businesses from moving to states with lower minimum wages.
Baumgartner counters that a federal minimum wage increase would have limited impact in Washington state, which already has the highest minimum wage in the country at more than $17 per hour. He maintains that his focus on increasing supply and domestic manufacturing is the more effective path to affordability.
Trade Policy and Energy Markets
On trade, Conroy believes Congress should renegotiate trade agreements with other countries to reduce prices for Americans.
“That’s something that congress can do something about. By ending the trade chaos and returning to the agreed upon trade regime that we had prior to April 2025,” Conroy said.
Baumgartner takes a different approach, focusing on state-level policy rather than federal trade deals.
“The best thing that could happen to gas prices right now is for our state legislature and Governor Bob Ferguson is to eliminate the very foolish climate commitment act tax that was enacted a couple years ago,” Baumgartner said.
Foreign Policy Differences
The candidates also diverge on international issues affecting energy markets. Conroy contends that ending the war in Iran quickly would help lower gas prices. Baumgartner, however, prioritizes preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, viewing that as the more critical concern.
Voters will have an opportunity to hear directly from both candidates as they face off in a debate next Thursday at noon at the Spokane Rotary Club.
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