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Among the nation's most closely watched races is a rematch in southwestern Washington's 3rd Congressional District.
U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat representing Washington's 3rd Congressional District in southwest Washington, speaks to supporters Tuesday night, Nov. 5, 2024, while leading her Republican challenger, Joe Kent.
First-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez was leading her challenger Republican Joe Kent, a former Green Beret, in unofficial vote returns Tuesday night in the battle for Washington's 3rd Congressional District which encompasses southwest Washington. It's among the nation’s most closely watched races that will determine which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives.Gluesenkamp Perez, who owns an auto-repair shop with her husband, came out of nowhere two years ago to win a seat that hadn’t been in Democratic hands for over a decade. She beat the Trump-endorsed Kent by fewer than 3,000 votes out of nearly 320,000 cast. "We don't know the outcome of the election yet," she said Tuesday night to a cheering crowd of supporters at the Hilton Hotel in Vancouver. "But we do know that someone like me, a mom who works in the trades, would never have gotten to Congress without all of you."Her predecessor, moderate Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, held office for six terms but failed to survive the 2022 primary after voting to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 insurrection. The district narrowly went for Trump in 2020, making it a crucial target for both parties this year.— the district’s biggest city — scorching hundreds of ballots. Another ballot box was hit across the Columbia River in Portland, Oregon. People who cast their votes in the targeted Vancouver drop box were urged to contact the county auditor’s office to receive replacement ballots. During her tenure Gluesenkamp Perez has balanced progressive policies with some measures popular with Republicans, including securing the U.S.-Mexico border — something she criticizes Biden for failing to do — and introducing a constitutional amendment to force presidents to balance the budget. She supports abortion access and has hammered Kent, who previously has said he supported a national abortion ban, for changing his position after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Kent now says abortion laws should be left up to the states. Gluesenkamp Perez supports policies to counter climate change, but also speaks openly about being a gun owner. A top priority is pushing a “right to repair” bill that would help people get equipment fixed without having to pay exorbitant prices to the original manufacturer. Kent is a former Green Beret who served 11 combat deployments before joining the CIA. His wife, Shannon, a Navy cryptologist, was killed by a suicide bomber in 2019 while fighting the Islamic State group in Syria, leaving him to raise their two young sons alone. Kent remarried last year. "It's not over yet, so let's just stay motivated, keep your spirits high and be prepared to go cure some ballots tomorrow," he told supporters Tuesday night at Cloverlane Event Center in Hockinson.His last campaign raised questions about his ties to white nationalists after he hired a Proud Boy as a consultant and, during a fundraiser, lavished praise on Joey Gibson, the founder of the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer. Kent said he disavows white nationalism.Kent and Gluesenkamp Perez disagree on a major local issue: the replacement of a major bridge across the Columbia River between Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. Gluesenkamp Perez supports plans to replace the existing bridge. Kent has argued that a separate new bridge should be built while the old one is maintained. Plans for the replacement bridge would have “light rail that dumps downtown Portland’s problems into downtown Vancouver,” Kent said.
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