As they jockey to advance out of the top-two primary, candidates for the Third Congressional District have continued to roll out their endorsements.
In separate announcements, the trio of candidates — Republicans Joe Kent and Leslie Lewallen and Democratic incumbent Marie Gluesenkamp Perez — have announced support from trade groups, current elected officials and law enforcement organizations, among others.
On Monday, Lewallen announced her campaign had received the endorsement of former Washington legislator and current Economic Alliance of Lewis County Executive Director Richard DeBolt.
"Leslie Lewallen is an effective leader and is committed to our community and the improvement of our beautiful state,” DeBolt said in a statement. “Leslie has shown her ability to achieve results and her understanding of the issues important to Washingtonians makes her the ideal candidate to represent Southwest Washington in Congress. I fully endorse Leslie Lewallen for Congress and I am confident she will be the voice Washington's Third Congressional District needs."
In a statement, Lewallen said she was “honored” to receive the endorsement.
“He served Washington in the House of Representatives for decades and I look forward to being a strong voice for our district and will address the issues that matter most to our community,” Lewallen said.
DeBolt joins a growing collection of state officials to back Lewallen, including former Secretary of State Sam Reed, former Attorney General Rob McKenna, former House minority leader J.T. Wilcox and 2022 Republican nominee for Senate Tiffany Smiley, among others. After falling in the 2022 election, Smiley is now challenging Dan Newhouse in the state’s fourth congressional district, which spans much of Central Washington.
“I am so honored to have received all of these endorsements from such influential leaders in our community,” Lewallen said in a statement regarding her endorsements. “Even more exciting to me, however, is the fact that these are all real people who have experienced what life is like when Gluesenkamp Perez is our representative. I am proud to be a voice for our conservative values. I am a fifth generation Washingtonian; I believe in our community and I believe in our country and I will be the representative that they both deserve.”
Kent — who is making a second bid for the seat — announced last week that he had received the endorsement of Congressman Scott Perry, R-Pennsylvania, who said the district “has an opportunity to elect a combat Veteran, a patriot, and a common-sense conservative in Joe Kent.”
“Unlike Marie Perez, Joe Kent will deliver substance — by securing our dangerous open borders, stopping the flood of fentanyl into our communities, opposing the negligent and destructive spending that’s driving inflation, defending women from the biological men invading their spaces, and putting spending priorities like the I-5 bridge project ahead of foreign aid and endless wars with no endgame,” Perry said in a statement.
In response to the endorsement, Kent said that Perry is “an exceptional leader and the kind of congressman we need more of.
“I am grateful for his support and look forward to working shoulder-to-shoulder with him next year to undo the damage of the Biden-Perez years and deliver the practical solutions our constituents deserve,” Kent said in a statement.
The support by Perry comes after Kent received the endorsement of the Washington State GOP and by each county party in the district.
As she makes her first reelection bid, Gluesenkamp Perez has touted a wide-ranging list of endorsements, including the Washington Council of Police and Sheriff’s Deputies, and the Vancouver Firefighters, the largest IAFF local in the district.
Last week, Gluesenkamp Perez released a campaign ad titled “Keep us Safe,” which included an appearance by Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders, who said Gluesenkamp Perez is “delivering the tools and the manpower we need to tackle fentanyl.”
“I’m Marie Perez, and I approve this message to do whatever it takes to secure the border and keep Southwest Washington safe,” Gluesenkamp Perez says at the end of the ad.
The ad, which is solely focused on Kent, highlights Gluesenkamp Perez’s bipartisan record and support from law enforcement groups.
“Marie Perez is taking on the Biden administration and working with Republicans to secure the Southern border and improve public safety,” a narrator says in the ad titled “Keep Us Safe.”
The endorsements come as signs continue to point to a tight general election race. After winning by 2,629 votes in 2022, a poll released last week by the Northwest Progressive Institute shows that Gluesenkamp Perez trails by a percentage point in a hypothetical rematch against Kent.
In the poll, Kent received 46% support compared to Gluesenkamp Perez’s 45%, with 9% of voters undecided. The poll of 649 likely voters, conducted between June 11 and 12, included questions about Lewallen, but the organization did not publicly release those results.
