Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger Joe Kent, who are squaring off in what is expected to be one of the most competitive U.S. House races in November, will face each other in an October debate on KATU.
The live debate is set for Oct. 7 on Channel 2.
The race is of high national interest in part because the Southwest Washington seat had long been held by a Republican until Gluesenkamp Perez’s 2022 win.
On Tuesday, Gluesenkamp Perez and Kent finished first and second in Washington’s top-two primary, advancing to the general election.
That means Kent, who is once again endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is back in a second attempt to take the seat representing Washington’s 3rd Congressional District.
The two candidates are already sparring through social media, with Kent referring to the sitting member of Congress by an abbreviated last name.
In the statement, Kent said it was “time for Congresswoman Perez to stop hiding behind social media, name-calling, and fake town halls with prescreened questions.” He’s also tying her to President Joe Biden, whose sinking popularity contributed to his departure from the 2024 presidential election.
“While I look forward to a civil debate, I will nonetheless hold Perez accountable for her record of broken promises,” Kent said in the statement, “and votes cast in lockstep with the Biden-Harris administration that have harmed the families of Southwest Washington.”
Gluesenkamp Perez responded Thursday in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. She said she agreed to the debate “months ago” when she proposed the date to the TV station.
“Your record as a drama queen is wearing thin with everyone in Southwest Washington,” she wrote, “and I fully expect you to come up with an excuse to pull out of the debate the day before. Either way I’ll be there.”
The seat representing Washington’s 3rd Congressional District was held by Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler from 2011 to when she left office on Jan. 3, 2023. Herrera Beutler lost the 2022 primary in part because she broke with most members of her Republican party to vote to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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