MGP declares victory, defying the pundits once again in congressional race
Skamania County Democrat wins second term representing Southwest Washington's 3rd District; she pledges to continue bipartisan efforts
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez claimed a re-election victory after she maintained her lead in Thursday’s ballot count and The Vancouver Columbian newspaper declared her the victor in the race for Southwest Washington’s Congressional seat.
Thousands of ballots are still left to count across counties in the 3rd Congressional District, but most of them are from Clark County, where the incumbent Democrat continued to get about 56 percent of the vote Thursday.
As I reported Wednesday night in Lower Columbia Currents, MGP was on a path to victory because she convincingly outpolled Republican Joe Kent in Clark County, the district’s largest county.
Her margin over Kent will be significantly greater than it was in 2022, when MGP pulled off a shocker by defeating the Trump-backed former Green Beret.
Two years ago she won by 2,629 votes out of 334,000 ballots cast. Thursday night, she was leading by about 11,000 votes, and that margin likely will continue to grow as more ballots are counted. The count stood at 184,767 — 173,770. MGP won 51.33% of the districtwide vote.
“Like two years ago, pundits made a fundamental mistake by viewing this race through a partisan lens. … I think 90% of people in Southwest Washington agree on 90% of things, regardless of their political identity. ”
— Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
MGP’s issued a written statement Thursday night that is filled with mixture of pathos and a smidge of “I told you so” defiance for having surprised the pundits once again. She had been an huge underdog in 2022 , and many doubted she’d win re-election this year.
Millions were spent on the race because the 3rd District is considered a “swing” area and could determine which party controls the House of Representatives.
“Some far-away pundits and prognosticators swore I would lose this re-election campaign from the moment I took office,” said MGP, a Reed College graduate and co-owner of a Portland auto repair shop. “They dismissed our victory in 2022 as a fluke or an accident, and scoffed at the possibility that someone from the trades, the mom of a toddler, who didn’t have elected experience could effectively fight for her community in Congress, much less win re-election after being targeted as the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent in the country.”
“Like two years ago, pundits made a fundamental mistake by viewing this race through a partisan lens. Our community has never seen ourselves this way, and it’s not how we evaluate who merits our vote for Congress.”
“I think 90% of people in Southwest Washington agree on 90% of things, regardless of their political identity. We are not the sort of place where we define ourselves and our neighbors by our bumper stickers. Our gift is too great, our heritage too proud to walk away from the cooperative spirit of those who came before us. We work together in our communities to solve problems and keep each other safe. I will continue working with Republicans in Congress and here at home to deliver results and get things done for Southwest Washington.”
Despite her victory and her appeal for unity, MGP was losing Cowlitz, Lewis, Wahkiakum, Skamania and Thurston counties by significant margins. Besides Clark County, she only won Pacific County. However, even in the counties she lost, she outpolled Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris by six or so percentage points
Kent did not immediately issue a statement Thursday night. Wednesday, he said the race was ”far from over” because about 100,000 ballots were left to count after the first round of ballot tabulation Tuesday night. However, further counting over the past two days did not close the gap, and MGP continued to hold her advantage in Clark County.
In 2022, Kent’s campaign paid for a recount, and he didn’t acknowledge MGP’s victory for weeks.
In her statement, MGP said her priorities will remain “lowering costs for working people and middle class families, securing the Southern border and ending the flow of fentanyl into our communities, giving more people a shot at a good job that doesn't require a college degree, promoting careers and apprenticeships in the trades, establishing the right to repair our own stuff, and supporting Southwest Washington's farmers, growers, fishermen, and loggers.
She pledged to continue defending women’s reproductive rights and fight for fiscal responsibility instead of “continuing tax giveaways to the top 1% and companies who ship jobs overseas and import cheap junk instead. I will put the views of Southwest Washington first in the votes I cast and the work I do, and I will stand up to political extremism, political violence, and any abuse of power or the public trust.”