As of Wednesday morning, Marie Gluesenkemp Perez, D-Washougal, and incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground were leading in the primary race for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District.
The primary, sometimes called a jungle primary or blanket primary, pushes the top two vote-getters on to the general election, where voters will send their next pick to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Vote counts will continue to roll in throughout the week before being certified statewide on Aug. 19. Before Wednesday afternoon’s updated results came in, Gluesenkemp Perez was leading in the district with 34,229 votes, or 31.77%. Herrera Beutler had earned 26,373 votes, or 24.48%.
In third place at the time, Republican Joe Kent had earned 21,666 votes, or 20.11%, with Heidi St. John, another Republican, seeing 16,248, or 15.08%.
As a resident of rural Skamania County, where she runs an auto repair shop and lives with her husband and 1-year-old child, Gluesenkemp Perez said she will be the first resident outside of Clark County to enter the general election for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. She is running on a platform of protecting working class Americans through fighting for worker’s rights, lowering costs of health care and ensuring women’s access health care including abortions.
Herrera Beutler, who was first elected into the seat in 2010, said on Tuesday night she isn’t celebrating just yet, but is “cautiously optimistic” about the primary results. She said she felt it was her work for the communities in her district that pushed her into the second place spot.
“I think this actually speaks more broadly to who I am as a representative, here in southwest Washington. You know, we were doorbelling — we ran through the tape — we were doorbelling today, sign waving today up until a few hours before polls closed. And I was so encouraged to hear from people of all political stripes — hardcore Republicans, Democrats and independents — saying they were going to support me, primarily because of the local work I do,” the congresswoman told The Chronicle.
Herrera Beutler was one of 10 Republicans in the House to vote to impeach former President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, while Kent was endorsed by Trump. The other top vote-getting Republicans in the race spent their campaigns trying to proclaim themselves as the farthest-right in the race. Kent focused on Herrera Beutler as his primary opponent, while St. John’s campaign framed Kent as her main foe.
“I think that contest of ‘Who’s the biggest Trump fan?’ really compelled all the candidates to show who they really are. I think in other years they might have had more of a focus-grouped approach, they would have had a more polished (campaign). … That really was an asset for us,” Gluesenkemp Perez said on Wednesday morning.
A reporter with The Chronicle asked Herrera Beutler on Tuesday night what she would say to supporters of St. John and Kent who have felt she lost her way with the Republican Party.
“This is an important question because if I get to go through this, this is exactly the case I'll be making. And it's number one: In Washington, D.C., right now, it's controlled — as it is in Washington state — by one single party. There is no outside input,” the congresswoman said. “A lot of bills are written behind closed doors and they’re not written with any kind of balance. And so right now, I think it’s incredibly important that we send someone to D.C. who has a different perspective. And I would say that to Democrats.”
She went on to describe inflation and its effects on American families, saying that “the Democratic side” is not working out for the country.
However, Gluesenkemp Perez said after the congresswoman’s 12 years in office, the opposite was true, claiming Herrera Beutler was part of the establishment “that got us where we are.”
The Washougal Democratic candidate went on to say the incumbent congresswoman had done “nothing to fight for small manufacturers, small businesses like mine. We've gotten a lot of lip service from her and no deliverables. And I think that's the biggest difference between us. I mean, I know how tough it is for small business owners and people working in the trades.”
Kent took to Facebook Wednesday, writing “Keep your powder dry- 42% of precincts still have not reported, they stopped counting for the night at 9 p.m. I’m in 3rd (place). Rural, day-of voters still have not reported, so there’s still a pathway.”
St. John similarly posted that the final results were still pending, but thanked her supporters for turning out, writing, “in the meantime, it was the honor of a lifetime to run to be a voice for the people in Congress.”
Other Republicans in the race were Vicki Kraft, who on Wednesday earned 3.21% and Leslie French, with .55%.
Other third party candidates included Independent Chris Byrd, who earned 1.88% of the vote and Solidarity Party candidate Oliver Black, who garnered just .17%. Another Democrat, Davy Ray, tallied 2,879 votes, or 2.67%.
In Clark County alone, 40,000 ballots have yet to be counted, as was first reported by The Columbian. Results will likely be updated around 5 p.m. Wednesday. Lewis County certification of the election will take place on Aug. 16 at 9 a.m.
To see current results on multi-county and statewide elections, visit https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/.
