As the campaign season kicks into high gear, Third Congressional District Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, visited East Lewis County last week to meet with small business owners, veterans and community members.
The meetings by Gluesenkamp Perez came days after the freshman representative officially secured a rematch with Republican challenger Joe Kent in a race that will be among the most closely watched across the country. Fewer than 3,000 votes separated the candidates during the 2022 election, and this cycle's outcome is expected to be one of the few that decides which party controls the House of Representatives.
The campaign tour took Gluesenkamp Perez to Packwood where she discussed the lack of child care in rural communities, roadblocks that impact small businesses and a “need to strengthen the timber industry.”
At a stop in Randle, Gluesenkamp Perez met with the Veterans Coffee Group, where she expressed a “strong support” for the Second Amendment and thanked the group for advocating for issues that impact veterans.
“I was excited to be back in Packwood and Randle to hear from the community and discuss priorities like improving access to childcare, protecting our timber industry, and ensuring local veterans can get the care they’ve earned,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement. “I’m making sure rural working people are no longer overlooked in D.C. I’m grateful to everyone who came out to share their priorities, opinions, and concerns with me.”
The tour wrapped up at the Morton Loggers Jubilee, where Gluesenkamp Perez attended the lawn mower races.
“The Morton Loggers Jubilee is one of my favorite community gatherings,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “This year, I met multi-time lawn mower race champion Brenda and several other contestants. These are the people and the kinds of events that keep alive our culture of fixing things, making stuff run, and working in the woods.”
In a post on X, Kent wrote that the events are a “great example” of Gluesenkamp Perez “campaigning against the crises she voted for.”
“Perez voted against funding the VA, voted to let DC regulation cripple our timber industry and for Bidenomics inflation forcing families to work multiple jobs to make ends meet,” Kent wrote.
Kent — who has again received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump — has repeatedly said his campaign will receive a boost now that he faces an incumbent in a general election.
“That’s the big difference between the last time I ran against her in 2022 and this time,” Kent said at a July 24 forum in Mossyrock. “Last time, she could say whatever she wanted to. She’s a lumberjack, she’s a mechanic, whatever. She could create stories because she didn’t have a voting record. This time, she has a voting record, and it’s the last thing she wants to talk about.”
Painting himself as a political outsider, Kent has said his second attempt at public office presents a unique opportunity: the chance to defeat incumbents from both political parties.
Kent defeated Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican who represented the district from 2011 to 2023, in the 2022 August primary before defeat in the general election.
Kent and Gluesenkamp Perez will square off in a live debate hosted by KATU on Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. Organizers are also attempting to schedule additional debates between the two candidates.
