A mere seven weeks before the general election, both the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) have unveiled their first advertisements in the tightly-contested race for the Third Congressional District.
The ads, announced in separate statements Tuesday, come as each organization will pour millions into a race that will be among the most closely watched in the country. According to the NRCC and DCCC, neither ad was authorized by a candidate or candidate’s committee.
Both ads focus on attacking their respective party’s opponent in the Nov. 5 election.
The DCCC’s ad, titled “Dangerous,” features Republicans who say they cannot support Republican Candidate Joe Kent in the general election.
“I voted for Republicans in the past and I am not voting for Joe Kent,” says a man identified as a “real southwest Washington” voter.
In the ad, another man states that he’s “voted for Republicans for much of my life” but that he will “never, ever” vote for Kent.
The NRCC’s ad, titled “Overwhelmed,” attacks freshman U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, for comments she made on the Pod Save America, a popular left-leaning podcast.
“Listen, like, nobody stays awake at night worrying about the southern border,” Gluesenkamp Perez said during an interview on a March 30, 2023, episode of the show.
The ad, which plays the audio multiple times, features a narrator who states the Southern Border is “where the flood of fentanyl is coming from” and that “it’s killing our kids.”
“Marie Gluesenkamp Perez won’t fix this,” the narrator states. “She’s too busy denying it.”
The ads come ahead of an election that will help decide control of the House of Representatives as both organizations look to spend millions in the race. Republicans currently hold 220 seats in the House compared to the 211 held by Democrats, with 218 needed to maintain a majority.
The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan website that analyzes American elections and political trends, rates the Third District as one of 24 “toss-up” districts across the country.
According to the NRCC, the organization has reserved more than $45 million in ad space in 29 media markets across the country, including more than $6 million in the Portland media market. In a June announcement, the NRCC noted that five congressional districts won by former President Donald Trump in 2020 that have Democratic representatives — including Washington’s Third District — were included in the initial round of ad reservations.
“The NRCC committed from Day One to not just hold our majority, but go on offense to grow our majority — today we are putting our money where our mouth is,” NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson said in a June 27 statement. “This initial investment gives our candidates firepower to remind voters of the Biden border, crime, and inflation crises wreaking havoc on their daily lives. Extreme Democrats who enabled the chaos and malaise should polish up their resumes — they will be unemployed soon.”
The DCCC, meanwhile, reserved $55 million in advertising space in media markets throughout the country through two rounds of ad buys this summer, including in several districts that Trump lost in 2020 that have Republican representatives.
According to the DCCC, the group has reserved $6.6 million in ad space in the Portland media market.
“House Democrats are on offense and this latest salvo of reservations reflects the strong position we are in to retake the majority. We’re able to make these moves across the map thanks to the record-breaking fundraising we’ve had — driven by Leader Hakeem Jeffries and fueled by the historic numbers of individual donors this cycle,” Julie Merz, DCCC executive director, said in an Aug. 19 statement. “This election is a clear choice between Republican extremism and their unpopular agenda to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and pass a nationwide abortion ban versus House Democrats’ forward-looking agenda of lowering costs and protecting reproductive freedom for all.”
This November, Kent and Gluesenkamp Perez will square off in a rematch of a 2022 election decided by fewer than 3,000 votes. During the August primary, Gluesenkamp Perez received 45.86% of the vote to Kent’s 39.31%, though an additional 12.19% of voters selected Leslie Lewallen, a Republican candidate who has since endorsed Kent.
While public polling on the race is scarce, Americans narrowly favor Democrats in a generic congressional election, according to political polling aggregator 538. On Tuesday, its rolling average showed that 46.5% of Americans would support a generic Democratic candidate compared to 44.3% who would support a Republican.
