Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, made her case for flipping Washington’s 3rd Congressional District blue this weekend in Kelso.
The 34-year-old small business owner is the most prominent Democrat in the field of eight other challengers — including incumbent U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground — for the House seat representing Southwest Washington in the Aug. 2 primary election.
Perez attended a Democratic candidate town hall Friday night at the Kelso Senior Center organized by Lower Columbia Indivisible. The only other Democrat in the race, Davy Ray of Stevenson, was not at the event.
District 3 has been a swing seat in the past but is now viewed as heavily Republican. The redistricting process maintained a significant Republican lean for the district, according to nonpartisan analysis by the websites FiveThirtyEight and PlanScore.
Jobs
Perez lives in unincorporated Skamania County and runs an auto repair shop in Stevenson with her husband Dean. During the forum she repeatedly returned to the need to protect small businesses and trades to keep manufacturing jobs in the United States.
“We have not maintained our capacity for fixing things in America, and that includes fixing Congress,” Perez said.
Other District 3 candidates Herrera Beutler, Joe Kent, R-Yacolt and Washington state Rep. Vicki Kraft, R-Vancouver, say they are in favor of rolling back government regulations that hinder business, according to their campaign websites. Heidi St. John, R-Battle Ground, says she would not support legislation that would eliminate state jobs, and Leslie French, R-Vancouver, says he wouldn’t support laws that put U.S. workers at a disadvantage.
Abortion
Over the past few weeks, Perez said the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has been galvanizing for people she met in the district.
Perez has been open about her personal experience with abortion. She endured a miscarriage in early 2020 and was told by doctors that her life would be at risk if she didn’t end her pregnancy. Perez said it was a “highly traumatic” experience but showed that abortion needed to be protected as a piece of health care.
“To think about the sheriff showing up at your door the next day to say you’re going to get prosecuted for murder, this is insane. This is such an intrusion of privacy for women,” Perez said.
She added that Republican candidates in the district would vote for a full federal ban on abortion if elected.
Herrera Beutler, St. John, Kraft and French supported the June decision that removed constitutional protections for abortion, but St. John said abortion is a state issue, not federal, according to The Columbian. The Columbian also reports Kent said the decision occurred because of former President Donald Trump.
Oliver Black of Longview — whose party, American Solidarity, advocates for anti-abortion policies — was pleased with the ruling. Chris Byrd, I-Toutle, said he doesn’t understand how legislation could dictate a person’s decision to receive reproductive care.
Accessibility
Perez told the small crowd Friday she wants to be reachable and engaged with the people she represents. Perez has said she won’t accept any corporate PAC funding for her campaign, which she said led to politicians no longer paying attention to everyday workers and constituents.
“Jaime is a ghost. She’s smoke. If you’ve tried to get her to show up and talk to you, it’s a real problem,” Perez said.
Herrera Beutler’s campaign spokesperson Craig Wheeler refuted Perez’s allegations in an email to The Daily News.
“The dozens of residents who had one-on-one meetings with her last week, the 5,000 people who joined her town hall a few weeks ago, the hundreds who spoke with her at her 11th annual Jobs Fair in June would all dispute the claim that comes from a rival candidate desperately looking for votes,” he wrote in the email.
Contact information and an online form to request a meeting with Herrera Beutler is at jhb.house.gov/contact/meetingrequest.htm.
On Saturday, the Washington Democrats kicked off their canvassing ahead of the election by knocking on doors in Cowlitz County and across the state.
