Editor’s note: For Election 2024, OPB has been diligently following local races, providing comprehensive coverage of campaigns and measures. Check results on the presidential race, key congressional battles and other outcomes at OPB’s elections page.
Washington 3rd Congressional District opponents Joe Kent, left, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
OPB staff / OPB
Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is leading in initial results released Tuesday night for Washington state’s 3rd Congressional District. The race is currently too close to call, but Gluesenkamp Perez is leading by a narrow margin after initial results.
The 2024 race is a rematch for the two candidates in Southwest Washington. The district went for Gluesenkamp Perez in a surprise victory in 2022. At the time, she won by just 2,629 votes – less than 1%. The race wasn’t officially called until a week after the election.
The two candidates were polling at 46% each with 8% of voters undecided in the weeks ahead of the presidential election, according to the Northwest Progressive Institute, a political advocacy group based in Redmond, Washington.
More results in the congressional race are expected to be released Wednesday.
Gluesenkamp Perez greeted cheering supporters around 9 p.m. Tuesday night at an election watch party.
Wearing a red plaid shirt and blue jeans, the congresswoman called for unity following a highly partisan election that saw attacks on ballot boxes in the district.
“It is not our civic duty to unfriend people on Facebook or leave nasty comments online,” she said. “Commitment to our community and real pride in where we live is how we start to fix what is broken in our country.”
Washington’s 3rd Congressional District runs 150 miles along the Columbia River Gorge to the Pacific Ocean. It includes much of rural Southwest Washington, as well as the state’s fourth most populous city, Vancouver. The district was held for more than a decade by Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, until she lost to Kent in the 2022 primary.
Gluesenkamp Perez ran a delicate campaign aimed at maintaining support from both Democrats and moderate Republicans. Her pitch to voters focused heavily on local issues, ranging from continuing to attract investment to her district to replace the Interstate Bridge between Oregon and Washington, promoting investments in blue-collar education programs like home construction, and increasing forest management opportunities for counties and tribes.
The Skamania County resident’s social policies vary when it comes to Democratic priorities. She supports abortion access but opposes student debt forgiveness. She has voted to support Israel in its war with Hamas, despite calls for a cease-fire. She also refused to say whether she was voting for Vice President Kamala Harris in her run for president.
Speaking at a gathering for Democrats in Southwest Washington, candidate for Washington’s 18th Legislative District Deken Letinich said “it hurt a little bit” that Gluesenkamp Perez distanced herself from the party during the campaign.
“But on the same hand, I understand it,” Letinich told OPB. “I think it was a shrewd campaign choice and I hope it worked out.”
Despite the early lead, Gluesenkamp Perez did not declare victory Tuesday.
“Whether the middle holds is yet to be seen here, but one thing is sure, we put in a hell of a lot of effort,” she said.
Kent declined an interview at Tuesday’s Clark County Republican election watch party in Hockinson, Washington, noting that all votes had not yet been counted.
Clark County Republican Party Chair Matthew Bumala said the numbers were reminiscent of the 2022 race between the two candidates, noting that additional ballots being counted during a presidential year could end up supporting Kent.
“If the trend is the same and the later ballots are going to go towards him again this time, with how many ballots are left out there, it’s not at all out of the question for him to come back and win,” Bumala said.
During debates this year, Kent leaned heavily on national issues including securing the southern border, reducing inflation, and achieving energy independence. In the weeks leading up to the election, Kent — a former Green Beret who lives in the town of Yacolt — received support from a number of prominent Republicans hoping to help flip the district back to GOP control.
In October, former President Donald Trump joined Kent in a telephone town hall, House Speaker Mike Johnson stumped for Kent during a campaign visit in Ridgefield, and he was joined by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise for a fundraising breakfast.
Trump’s likely victory on election night was sure to raise hopes that Kent could close the gap in ballot counts in coming days. Republicans hoped to retain control of the House this election but have faced an uphill battle in several races across the country. Kent’s bid is an important opportunity to maintain that narrow majority.