Candidates in the race for Washington’s Third Congressional District broke the fundraising record for the district last year, based on final filings for the 2022 election.
The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) released its year-end reports late last month. The latest numbers show all of the candidates who filed with the commission raised about $12.9 million, about $11.5 million of which was raised by the top three candidates.
New Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez raised the most money as she collected more than $3.9 million, all in the year 2022. While many candidates announced their decision to run as far back as early 2021, Gluesenkamp Perez’s campaign didn’t start raising money until Feb. 22, based on FEC records.
The congresswoman who flipped the district blue saw the biggest fundraising push of her campaign between July 14 and Sept. 30, raising more than $2.1 million.
Gluesenkamp Perez’s competitor in the general election, Republican Joe Kent, was not far behind with about $3.8 million raised during his campaign. Beginning at the start of 2021, Kent saw more steady fundraising periods, outpacing Gluesenkamp Perez until October.
By the close of the books in 2022, former U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler raised only a few thousand dollars less than Kent for the election cycle. Herrera Beutler lost a close contest in August as Gluesenkamp Perez and Kent advanced to the general election.
Herrera Beutler’s roughly $3.8 million wasn’t the highest total she raised through her tenure in Congress. In 2020, she raised roughly $4.6 million, more than challenger Carolyn Long, a Democrat, who raised close to $4.2 million.
The total amount of money raised last year was the third-straight election cycle with record-setting receipts, based on FEC records. In 2020, about $8.9 million was raised among all of the candidates, and in 2018, roughly $7.4 million was raised.
Herrera Beutler saw significant competition within her own party during the primary election as candidates who were dissatisfied with her vote to impeach former president Donald Trump in 2021 decided to join the race. Outside of the top-three fundraisers, last year’s contest featured a fourth candidate who broke the $1 million threshold. That was Republican Heidi St. John. Two other Republicans — Leslie French and Vicki Kraft — raised about $148,000 between the two of them.
The 2022 Third Congressional District race was the second most expensive by contributions in the state. The race was only behind the contest for the Eighth Congressional District, where candidates raised about $13.6 million. Incumbent Democrat Kim Schrier won that race.
Kent has already announced his intention to run for the Third Congressional District seat again in 2024.
