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Rep. McMorris Rodgers has Strong Election Night Showing by RaeLynn Ricarte Big Country News, November 9, 2022

She has called out Democrats for "spending money like kids in a candy store."

Eastern Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, planned a victory party on election night without too much concern about losing the 5th District seat she has held since January 2005.

McMorris Rodgers had won by a 61.29% margin in 2020 and political pundits were predicting her victory in Tuesday's election. Within minutes after the close of the polls, McMorris Rodgers had scored 58.2% of the vote compared to Democrat Natasha Hill's 41.8%.

Washington is a mail-in ballot state so results on Nov. 8 were only preliminary. The count will continue through the week.

McMorris Rodgers is the ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. That is the oldest continuous standing committee in the chamber. It was established in 1795 to regulate interstate and foreign commerce. Over the years, the committee became responsible for providing legislative oversight of telecommunications, consumer protection, food and drug safety, public health, air quality and environmental health, as well as supply and delivery of energy.

McMorris Rodgers has voted against many of the Biden administration's proposals. She has opposed several big spending bills, including the American Rescue Plan, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Build Back Better.

She has called out Democrats for "spending money like kids in a candy store."

In recent months, McMorris Rodgers has blasted President Joe Biden on several fronts. She called his decision to transfer student loan debt from borrowers to taxpayers a "dramatic overreach of his authority" and a "slap in the face to every hardworking person in Eastern Washington who will now have to foot the bill."

McMorris Rodgers also recently joined Sen. James Risch, a Republican from Idaho, in calling out the Biden Administration for its "lack of transparency and political intervention in processes that could lead to breaching the Lower Snake River dams."

McMorris Rodgers grew up working in her family's orchard in Kettle Falls and was the first in her family to go to college.

After obtaining a bachelor's degree from Pensacola Christian College she earned a master's in Business Administration from the University of Washington.

She entered politics in 1994 as a representative in the Washington House of Representatives where she eventually became House minority leader.

McMorris Rodgers and her husband, Brian, make their home in Spokane, the second largest city in Washington, and are the parents of three children.

Her Fifth Congressional District encompasses the eastern third of the state.