Congressional candidates debate immigration, electability, Israel and trans rights in S-R forum

Ten candidates made their pitch to replace Republican Michael Baumgartner in Congress .

The independents and Democrats made their case at Spokane Central Library at The Spokesman-Review Northwest Passages-sponsored debate. The congressional field is the widest it has been in years .

Democrat and retired diplomat Carmela Conroy is looking for a rematch after losing to Baumgartner two years ago. Her 21-point defeat loomed large over the candidates who each argued they were best positioned to flip the long-Republican-held 5th Congressional District.

Ten of the 12 candidates in the race to represent Eastern Washington in Congress took the stage at the forum moderated by Spokesman-Review reporter Emry Dinman. Only Baumgartner and Democrat Kevin Fagan did not appear. Baumgartner has said he won't participate in primary debates, and Fagan said he could not appear because he is on his honeymoon.

ICE and immigration

Debate on immigration centered on whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement should be abolished or reformed.

Democrat Bajun Mavalwalla argued ICE should be abolished and its leaders investigated for criminal activity.

"ICE is a sick organization and the only way to fix a sick organization is to eliminate it," he said.

Mavalwalla's son, who shares his name, was among the Spokane protesters convicted last month in conspiracy to impede ICE officials. His son was convicted for a "thought crime," Mavalwalla said.

"If you think it's not touching you, I beg you to reconsider. Because I opened the door on the 15th of July at 6 o'clock in the morning to find armed FBI agents to arrest my son," he said.

Conroy said Congress needs to "dismantle and behead" the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.

Ann Marie Danimus said ICE is "ripping off the fascist playbook" and immigration enforcement should be returned to other parts of the federal government. A small business owner, Danimus has run for the seat twice before as a Democrat and is now running as an independent.

Retired Air Force veteran and Democrat Richard Freudenberg placed blame on ICE leadership who should be replaced.

"You can't abolish ICE," he said. "ICE is a lead federal agency responsible for investigating human trafficking. If we abolish ICE, we will be sending a blank check to all federal human traffickers."

Physician Matthew Hayes, an independent, said ICE should not receive any more federal funds through 2035 but did not call for the department's abolishment.

Democrat Michael McGarr, a retired copy editor for The Spokesman-Review and former air traffic controller , said his party should focus on getting support for "common sense immigration reform" from congressional Republicans rather than focus on ICE.

"I'm not sure what Congress can do to rein them in," he said, noting his support for a bipartisan immigration plan that failed in Congress in 2024.

Retired marine corps veteran Nate Powell, an independent candidate, said the first priority should be a secure border.

"Without a secure border, we cannot manage the millions of people that have come into this country undocumented. Our process is not robust enough to manage the incoming immigrants. We need to hire more attorneys, judges, and give people a realistic and quick path to legal status."

Israel military

A dividing line across Democratic congressional primaries throughout the country this year has been the United States' relationship with Israel. Candidates in the debate uniformly criticized Israel's conduct in Gaza against Palestinian civilians but disagreed whether America should continue sending military aid to the country.

Candidates like retired Air Force Col. David Womack, Powell, McGarr and Freudenburg argued the U.S. should condition military aid to Israel based on whether human rights violations continue.

"We should have issued an ultimatum that we're going to cut off military aid unless that is stopped," Womack, a Democrat, said.

Powell said the U.S. needs to "leverage our relationship" to make Israel work toward peace and a two-state solution.

McGarr said America needs to continue being "the biggest supporter of Israel" but must "put strings" on the funds sent to them.

Freudenberg said continuing to fund Israeli military is "unacceptable" as long as "war crimes" continue.

Others went further. Candidates like Danimus, Mavalwalla and Conroy argued the U.S. should unilaterally end military aid to Israel.

The country should "under no circumstance" fund the Israeli military, Danimus said.

"Israel is no longer our partner or our friend and it's time we pull funding and support," she said.

Mavalwalla was the only candidate on the stage to call Israel's actions in Gaza a "genocide."

"Israel has violated international law - is committing a genocide. You must cut off their military aid when they are doing that," he said.

Conroy said the United States must "stop providing support to a government in Israel that is violating its own laws." She also called for the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Hayes labeled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "war criminal" but said Israeli's conduct in the war "cannot be blamed" on Jewish people as a whole.

Transgender rights

Several candidates called questions around transgender rights a "wedge issue" being used cynically by President Donald Trump and his supporters .

"I hate to say it, but this is a wedge issue only a few people are affected by and we have much more important things to work on," McGarr said.

The former Spokesman-Review employee added he "doesn't have an issue" with barring transgender women from competing in female sports.

Powell said transgender participation in sports is "not a big issue" and transgender rights should be an issue handled by the states.

"This is a wedge issue pushed by conservatives to keep us fighting each other, so we don't look at who is picking our pockets, which is the billionaires," he said.

Richard Freudenberg said transgender people should be "treated equally under the law but was unsure if transgender athletes should be required to play in the sports league associated with their sex assigned at birth.

Attorney Kyle Usrey, an independent, said the "feds need to get completely out of this" and said it had become too much a focus of both parties.

"I'm not an extremist and the parties are tending now to extremism," he said.

In Congress Usrey would support "capitalism with guardrails" and called the MAGA movement a "pox on humanity."

Others argued for a more forceful defense of trans rights using the federal government.

"Just because something is a wedge issue does not mean it is not an important issue," Danimus said. "I fail to see how the federal government lacks responsibility in enforcing basic equality rights."

The independent said she left the Democratic Party in part because they are not "standing stronger and louder" on this issue.

Independent Andrew Bartleson said he was "ashamed and embarrassed" the debate was even needed.

"This is the most vulnerable, marginalized group of people in the country, and we continually want to talk about them like they ain't amongst us, like they're not people just like us. Show them some love, show them some respect," he said.

An auditor for the state Department of Labor and Industries, Bartleson was perhaps the most colorful of the candidates - wearing a shirt of himself in a Speedo watering grass with a hose.

Conroy said the federal government should stay out of the way and not infringe transgender rights but rather protect transgender rights when states try to infringe them.

"Every person in the United States has a right to equal treatment under the law, and to the extent that a state tries to violate an individual's rights because of who they are or who they love or how they identify," Conroy said.

Editor's note: This story was changed on July 6, 2026 to correct the name of Kevin Fagan. His first name was incorrect in an earlier version of this report because of an editing error.

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This story was originally published July 7, 2026 at 2:09 AM.