Spokane congressional candidate who paid a rival for help drops out days after filing

May 12-In the crowded race to represent Eastern Washington in Congress, one candidate has dropped out of the race just days after entering it.

Manoochehre "Mike" Gahvarehchee, an Iranian-born Spokane developer whom The Spokesman-Review profiled in March, filed for the office last week as a Democrat, joining a 12-person race for a seat currently held by freshman Congressman Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane. By Monday, public filings showed he had already dropped out.

"It hasn't been an easy decision to get in, and then to get out," Gahvarehchee said in a Tuesday interview. "Because of what's been going on between the United States and Iran, this has been a difficult decision for someone like me to enter this race."

Gahvarehchee felt his experience in international business and real estate development made him a compelling advocate for increased domestic manufacturing and for reforms to lower the cost of housing. His background as an Iranian American who walked away from his homeland also gave him a deeper perspective on the war the U.S. is currently waging, as well as the regime that remains in power there, he added.

"This war, it doesn't necessarily help the average American," he said. "We experienced this with the previous war with Iraq, and I objected to that as well as a war without any clear goal, and we are being pushed into this war by a very close ally we have - it's not fair to the American people."

He supported President Donald Trump's stated policy of putting America first in U.S. policy, Gahvarehchee said. The war seemed only to divert from that goal.

"I know the regime in Iran is not what we want as Americans, and I don't like them either," he added. "But is it up to us to change them through war? We don't want to see the loss of an American soldier for their cause; if they want freedom or regime change, it has to be done by Iranian people."

But that same unique perspective also caused Gahvarehchee to hesitate to run for federal office, both because of the possibility of discrimination from constituents who may see him as Iranian first and American second and also the possibility of danger to family remaining in Iran.

"If I was in the race, I would have to defend Iranian people to an extent, for their freedom against the regime in charge now," possibly inciting the ire of Tehran, Gahvarehchee said. "That was a dilemma for me to come in, and I said at the last minute, I've got to do this."

But further conversations over the weekend solidified Gahvarehchee's concerns that his candidacy would pose too great of a safety concern, he said.

Though Gahvarehchee's candidacy was short -lived, it had already faced an unusual dilemma before it had even begun: Should a candidate for office hire another candidate for the same office to assist their campaign?

Gahvarehchee had hired the consulting firm owned and operated by Ann Marie Danimus, who has run unsuccessfully for the seat twice before as a Democrat and is running again this year as an independent, while exploring a potential run for the same seat.

"She wanted to do some work for me, and I just, I was having some questions whether that would be the right thing to do or not," he said. "I asked for her opinion on some of the issues we face, about affordability, what are the challengers for farmers."

He declined to say whether he had paid Danimus.

In a brief interview, Danimus acknowledged Gahvarehchee had hired her firm for services such as marketing - a nearly completed logo, his website - and assistance filing paperwork for the office, though Danimus said that he approached her. She said the work was broadly technical and did not help to shape his platform or public stances on issues, and that she didn't consider it to be a conflict of interest.

"My professional standards would not allow me to do any less for him than any other client," she said, noting that she has provided services to other candidates for office in the past. "I didn't volunteer, I got paid, so for me the boundary was very clear - it was professional."

She argued she believes the race and the broader public would be served by more candidates with diverse perspectives filing for the office.

"I have always been a person who has wanted to just support open elections, being Independent and not a fan of party politics and ... all of these mechanisms that exist in the process to keep good people out," she said. "I am not intimidated, nor am I opposed to having more voices on the campaign trail talking about our country and what is best for the people."

Editor's note: This story was updated Tuesday evening to add that Ann Marie Danimus said Mike Gahvarehchee first approached her to solicit her firm's services.

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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 7:17 PM.