Republicans want to reclaim Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, where U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez won a second term last year

Jerry Cornfield
Washington State Standard

Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez may soon get a seasoned Republican challenger in her southwest Washington district. And it won’t be Joe Kent, the man she’s defeated twice.

State Senate Republican Leader John Braun and Washington State Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh are both eyeing a challenge to the congresswoman, who won a second term last year and is up for reelection in 2026.

Her 3rd Congressional District has drawn national attention as a battleground where the outcome helps decide which party controls the U.S. House. Republicans are eager to reclaim the seat they lost three years ago.

Braun, a Centralia resident reelected last year to a fourth term as a state senator, was recruited by the National Republican Congressional Committee. He is expected to formally announce his campaign as soon as next week.

“My wife and I are talking about it. We’ll see,” Braun said Wednesday morning.

Walsh, an Aberdeen resident and state representative since 2017, said he’s “looking at it” and not “closing the door,” but noted his work to rebuild the state party “is not complete.” 

“That’s a factor,” he added.

With their respective political experience and electoral success, either could be a tough match-up for Gluesenkamp Perez. President Donald Trump won the 3rd District in each of his presidential runs.

One Republican, Antony Barran, owner of Willapa Wild, an oyster farm in Willapa Bay has already announced his candidacy in the district. This is his first run for Congress.

Tim Gowen, a campaign manager for Gluesenkamp Perez, said in an email on Thursday that the congresswoman “is laser-focused on cutting red tape for small businesses, expanding shop classes, and lowering costs for SW families.”

“She’s ready to put her record of fighting our fentanyl crisis and leveling the playing field for everyday people up against anyone,” Gowen added.

The 3rd District encompasses Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Pacific, Wahkiakum, and Skamania counties and a small part of Thurston County. It includes the city of Vancouver, and its southern boundary is the Columbia River.

In 2022, Gluesenkamp Perez, co-owner of an auto repair and machine shop with her husband, defeated Republican Joe Kent, a former Army Special Forces soldier who had Trump’s backing. 

It was one of that year’s biggest ballot upsets, costing the Republican Party a seat it had held for more than a decade and dropping the number of Republicans in Washington’s 12-member congressional delegation from three to two.

Last year, in a rematch, Gluesenkamp Perez defeated Kent by 15,000 votes, while in the presidential race, Trump beat Democrat Kamala Harris in the congressional district by nearly the same margin.

A co-chair of the centrist  Blue Dog Coalition, Gluesenkamp Perez has positioned herself as a moderate Democrat, touting her willingness to work across the aisle. 

In her first term, she voted to oppose then-President Joe Biden’s border security policies and his proposals for student loan forgiveness. This year, she voted with House Republicans to pass the SAVE Act, which would require a person to prove they are a U.S. citizen when registering to vote in federal elections.

“It is a Trump district,” Walsh said. “The incumbent has worked very hard to create the image that she represents the district. She’s a progressive. You can wear all the Carhartts in the world, but your votes are your votes.”

If Braun enters the race, Walsh might not. He said he wants to avoid a divisive primary, citing damage done by intraparty primary fights in the last two elections. 

In 2022, Republican U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler faced several GOP challengers angered by her vote a year earlier to impeach Trump during his first term. Herrera Beutler had held the seat since 2011. 

Kent beat Herrera Beutler in the primary that year but then lost in the general election.

As a candidate, Kent drew attention for embracing false claims that Trump, not Biden, won in the 2020 election and unfounded theories about FBI involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Last year, Kent fended off Republican Leslie Lewallen of Camas before losing his November rematch with Gluesenkamp Perez. 

In February, Trump appointed Kent to be director of The National Counterterrorism Center. He is awaiting confirmation.

This report was first published by The Washington State Standard.

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