Ann Marie Danimus hopes third time is the charm in uphill bid for Congress

Ann Marie Danimus, independent candidate for Congress, has always been a busy woman.

She runs a small business marketing and consulting company, owns a T-shirt design and print shop and founded an educational film nonprofit. In the midst of her third congressional run, she's writing a picture book about the impact of corporate money in politics set to publish in the coming weeks. In May, she completed her MBA while also juggling a medical episode that hospitalized her in March, all while taking care of her aging mother.

Her campaign website is six years old, created in 2020 to promote her failed bid for state Senate and retooled thrice now for successive runs for Congress. Aside from former Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Danimus may have more experience running for this seat than anyone else alive, and was actually paid earlier this year to help a rival for the same seat get their campaign off the ground - though Iranian-born Manoochehre "Mike" Gahvarehchee dropped out almost immediately, citing safety concerns due to his nationality.

That wealth of electoral experience hasn't previously translated into electoral success, however, with Danimus failing to advance past the primary of any of her races. Her best performance was during her first run for Congress in 2022, when she earned 10% of the vote; two years later, in a much more crowded field, she failed to clear 6% of the vote.

There already are some signs that the third time will be an even steeper climb. Danimus excelled in 2024 at gathering small dollar donations from thousands of supporters, putting her at third place in fundraising by March 31 with over $140,000 raised. By the end of March this year, she had raised less than $12,000, a dismal start she blames on inefficient fundraising companies, her hospitalization, and being kicked off ActBlue, the Democratic-aligned fundraising platform that's also available to some progressive independent candidates, for reasons unclear to Danimus.

She recently suffered a spate of Bell's Palsy, a typically temporary, partial paralysis of the face, causing the normally loquacious candidate to speak slowly and slur her words. While she says she's recovering and expects to have full function back soon, the condition may have impacted the public's perception of her at the slew of public forums and debates this spring, where she has not disclosed the condition; after a May forum hosted by Spokane Indivisible and Showing Up For Racial Justice, Danimus received no votes in a straw poll.

Meanwhile, the Federal Elections Commission reports her campaign is nearly $14,000 in debt for unpaid bills to contractors - Danimus disputes this as inaccurate, estimating the debt load is closer to $8,000, on top of another roughly $14,000 she has loaned to her own federal campaigns.

Asked why voters should choose her in a field with a dozen candidates, despite past defeats, Danimus argues her difficulty in elections doesn't reflect on her ability to perform as a congresswoman.

"People know my name, but they don't know me, and failure to run a successful campaign is not the same thing as being bad for office," Danimus said. "I continue to believe I'm the best qualified person on the trail to actually solve these problems."

She argues that affordability remains the top concern for voters, and trust in Republicans' ability to address the issue has eroded in the last two years. Danimus, who ran as a Democrat in 2022 and 2024, is now running as an independent, having split from the party in late 2024 arguing that the party was ultimately ruled by corporate interests, among other concerns. The relationship between Danimus and the Democratic Party was already acrimonious: Danimus failed to secure the Spokane County party's endorsement in 2024, and then-Chair Naida Spencer - who herself became embroiled in an interparty scandal - would later say Danimus had a "personality disorder."

Independent status is a return to form for Danimus, who ran her first campaign for state-level office as an independent. She has a diverse set of policy positions, pushing for niche reforms like subsidies for hemp for use in construction materials alongside more mainstream issues like codifying the right to abortion, but limiting corporate influence in politics has always been one of her most prominent positions.

Danimus frequently wears a penny lapel pin signifying the N.O.P.E. pledge: not one penny (of corporate campaign contributions) ever. Some other challengers have chaffed at the insinuation that they are funded by corporate interests - and no candidate other than incumbent Rep. Michael Baumgartner has reported significant funding from corporate-backed PACs - but Danimus has since extended the pledge to include PACs of any kind, including those funded by unions or other special interest groups.

But detaching from the party has been, at best, a double-edged sword for the perennial candidate. Coupled with disappointing fundraising, Danimus said she feels "dead in the water," but hopes that interest in her book and strong public performances - particularly once her voice returns - will help renew interest in a candidate that walks her own path.

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