Conventional political wisdom is that U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is in pretty good shape for re-election.
Her loss in the primary indicates a close race, but Republicans are usually more reliable voters in primaries than Democrats. And then there was the additional Democrat candidate whose voters might be expected to return to the fold in November.
Not so fast.
The defeated Democrat has loudly declared that he will not support Gluesenkamp Perez in the general election. He’s taking his ball and going home.
It’s a new dynamic in the Democrat party, mimicking perpetual loser “my way or the highway” Republican candidates.
Normally, Democrat politicians lock up their far-left voters in the primary and then turn to moderate messages.
Not so for Gluesenkamp Perez, whose abortion ads clearly indicate a need to shore up her base.
This race is far from over.
Anyone paying close attention knows that Gluesenkamp Perez is a political outlier in her party. Her importance to national Democrats is her vote to elect a speaker of the house. After that, she will either “toe the line” on every important vote or become the equivalent of a janitor in the congressional basement, getting a few Christmas gifts but otherwise being inconsequential.
This race is going to heat up as voters face the fact that electing Gluesenkamp Perez could hand Congress to the very far-left leadership they rightly fear.
Rene Remund
Chehalis
