VANCOUVER, Wash. — Washington state's primary took place Tuesday, and the outcome will set up what's expected to be another hotly contested race for the 3rd Congressional District — one of the races that will determine in November whether Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House.
The primary race pits Democratic incumbent Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez against her opponent of 2022, Republican veteran Joe Kent, as well as Republican and Camas City Council member Leslie Lewallen, and Independent John Saulie-Rohman.
As of 8 p.m. Tuesday night, Gluesenkamp Perez had received 47% of the vote and Kent 38%. They were trailed by Republican Leslie Lewallen with 12% and Independent John Saulie-Rohman with 2%.
In Washington, primary races are not closed by party. Voters are able to choose from all four candidates, and the top two vote-getters will advance to the general election in November, even if they happen to be from the same party.
Mailed ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday to be counted, but they can be dropped off at official ballot drop boxes up until 8 p.m. Tuesday night. That's also generally when county election offices begin publishing results from ballots that have already been received and counted.
As of Tuesday morning, the Clark County Auditor's office said they'd received about 75,000 ballots in time to be reported in preliminary election results. They expected to receive roughly another 63,000 ballots through the end of the week, though each ballot will require verification and tabulation. They anticipated releasing further results once each day through the end of the week.
Past upsets
In 2022, Washington's 3rd District surprised the political establishment with two significant twists. First, political newcomer Joe Kent, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, surpassed Republican incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler in the primary by running to her right. Herrera Beutler was widely seen as a more moderate candidate, having voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The primary outcome set up a race between Kent and Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez, another political newcomer, in a relatively purple district. With Kent benefitting from a more robust Republican fundraising apparatus, Gluesenkamp Perez was undoubtedly the dark horse candidate heading into the general election.
Though the race became incredibly tight, Gluesenkamp Perez prevailed in November by a margin of less than 3,000 votes — handing a Democrat control of Washington's 3rd District for the first time since 2011. Across the country, races like this one ensured that Republicans gained control of the U.S. House by only a narrow margin.
This time around, the 3rd District is getting more national attention from the jump, as both parties vie for control of Congress.
The state of play
Since taking office, Gluesenkamp Perez has made an effort to legislate in a way befitting her purple district, reviving the comparatively conservative "Blue Dog Coalition" of Democrats and breaking with the majority of her party on President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan.
Gluesenkamp Perez, who co-owns an auto repair shop in Portland with her husband, has focused her support in Congress on issues like infrastructure, small businesses and the working class. While she's generally avoided engaging on culture war issues, she's been a vocal proponent of access to women's reproductive care.
As some Democrats began calling for Biden to step aside in the 2024 presidential race, Gluesenkamp Perez took it a step further, suggesting that Biden should not only drop out of the race, but resign from office.
Ahead of Washington's August primary, polling still placed Gluesenkamp Perez and Kent as very closely matched, though the incumbent congresswoman held a fundraising advantage as of late June, OPB reported. They were trailed by Camas City Council member Leslie Lewallen.
Kent, a former Green Beret and ex-CIA officer, has retained much of the GOP establishment support he enjoyed in 2022, including another endorsement from Trump. He's railed against the Biden administration's foreign policy and performance on the border, and has attempted to tie Gluesenkamp Perez to that legacy, portraying her as a radical.
During the 2022 election, Kent attempted to distance himself from connections to the far-right, including white nationalist Nick Fuentes. He entertained election fraud claims, also saying that the Jan. 6 riot was an "intelligence operation" and that the COVID-19 vaccine was "experimental gene therapy."
Lewallan's policy priorities are not so different from Kent's — both focus heavily on the border — though she's made an effort to chart a more center-right path by highlighting local issues. She's portrayed Kent as inconsistent and untrustworthy, while accusing Gluesenkamp Perez of only distancing herself from the Biden administration when politically convenient.
Independent John Saulie-Rohman, a longtime control room operator in the energy industry, used his voter guide statement to take aim at the lobbying and special interests that have swayed legislative policies in the U.S. He pledged to invest in public education and infrastructure, while closing tax cuts and loopholes for large corporations.
