'24 Campaign for Congress has begun

Marie G-P will need support from party heavyweights, rack up frequent flier miles

An earlier version of this column erroneously stated that Marie Gluesenkamp was sworn into office. Swearing in ceremonies have been delayed by the conflict over who will be the next Speaker of the House.

Despite the GOP comedy playing out in Congress, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez eventually will be sworn in as Southwest Washington’s 15th congressional representative.

And a little-noticed press release issued Dec. 22 shows that the campaign for her re-election already had begun.

In the release, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell announced that the U.S. Forest Service will give up 23 acres of former tree nursery land to Skamania County. It was significant for the rural, tax-poor Columbia Gorge county, because so much of the land  is owned by the U.S. Forest Service and not subject to property taxes.

Its political message, though, was revelatory: Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, credited Gluesenkamp Perez for supporting the land effort — even though the Skamania Democrat had not yet taken office. 

The press release was jointly put out by Cantwell and former Republican Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, who sponsored the legislation and whom Gluesenkamp Perez is replacing  as 3rd District representative.

The political significance is threefold and easy to see: To be re-elected in 2024, Gluesenkamp Perez must retain the support of moderate Herrera Beutler Republicans. Their support was crucial in Gluesenkamp Perez’s upset, 2,629-vote November election win over Trump-backed Republican Joe Kent. Her margin of victory was just 0.55 percent of the vote.

The press release signals that Cantwell and the state’s other senior Democrat — U.S. Sen. Patty Murray — will mentor and promote Gluesenkamp Perez, who likely will face a ferocious re-election challenge in 2024.

Finally, the release also may be an intriguing signal that Herrera Beutler — who declined to endorse Kent after he ousted her in the August primary — won’t endorse him or any other Republican extremist in two years.

Republicans will be gunning for Gluesenkamp Perez from the very start of her two-year term. Her re-election challenge is formidable, but there’s reason to think that she can hold the seat.

Kent already has informally announced he will run again in 2024. The GOP, which now controls the House by a tiny majority, is likely to throw tons of money and grassroots effort into the 2024 campaign to reclaim the seat, which Herrera Beutler held for 12 years.

The 3rd District has become solidly Republican over the last decade due to boundary changes and rural disillusionment with Democrats. The midterm election results in other races generally confirmed that tilt. Kent lost only because he alienated moderate Republicans by spouting the political stench of Donald Trump, excusing the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, meeting with racist extremists and promising obstruction and division.

Gluesenkamp Perez, though, is well suited for this conservative-leaning district. She is philosophically in tune with the center. She supports gun and abortion rights; the need for job training and medical reform; and helping small businesses and the timber industry. In fact, Democrats would be smart to use her as a model to rebuild its appeal with rural voters.

Gluesenkamp Perez shows every sign of intending to work on bread-and-butter district needs, the method that made 3rd District successes out of Herrera Beutler and two Democratic predecessors — Don Bonker (1975-89) and Brian Baird (1999-2011). 

As freshman in the minority party, Gluesenkamp Perez will find it hard to successfully sponsor legislation, and it remains to be seen whether she will be appointed to key committees such as transportation and natural resources. She’ll need to have help from Sens. Cantwell and Murray to move her initiatives forward and win plaudits.

Gluesenkamp Perez must cheerlead in her district for the infrastructure and other projects  approved in the last Congress.  If she networks well, she won’t need a long list of successful legislation to be a successful representative.

She also needs to excel at constituent services — helping voters in the district solve problems with federal agencies. Herrera Beutler earned a well-deserved reputation in this regard. That attention always helped her at the ballot box. 

Finally, Gluesenkamp Perez must show her face often around the economically and politically diverse 3rd District.  Rep. Baird was justifiably proud to say he had visited every public school in the district during his dozen years as Southwest Washington’s congressional representative.  In contrast, Herrera Beutler made limited, carefully choreographed appearances here. Putting it colloquially, the new congresswoman will need to earn millions of frequent flier miles getting back to the district on weekends and holidays.

Woody Allen said “80 percent of success is showing up.” To win in ’24, Gluesenkamp Perez must take that advice to heart.