MGP faces pushback from the left, but progressives are forgetting recent history

Calls to 'primary' the two-term Democratic congresswoman are delusional and could help MAGA Republicans win back the seat, keep control of Congress

Some Southwest Washington Democrats are suffering from political amnesia. If they don’t snap out of it, they’ll hand the area’s congressional seat back to the MAGA-led GOP.

They risk ceding the seat to someone who endorses or can be politically scourged to support the worst Trump White House policies, like the heinous “big, beautiful (say ‘ugly’) bill the house passed this morning by a single vote.

Incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez opposed that bill, but she has angered many progressives with her bipartisan approach to the job. At two town halls she hosted recently, crowds shouted questions or chanted, “Vote her out!” and said they would find a more liberal primary challenger.

They’ve called MGP out for being one of only four House Democrats to vote for the Republican-backed SAVE Act. The bill, which stands little or no chance of passing the Senate, would require proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration and has drawn criticism for its potential to disenfranchise legitimate voters.

Members of her party also have chastised her for voting to censure U.S. Rep. Al Green, a Texas Democrat, for his protest during President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress in March. She was one of 10 Democrats to do so.

Party members also contend that the second-term incumbent is not vocal enough about opposing the Trump administration’s federal staffing cuts and immigration policies. In 2023 she opposed President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, saying this district holds just 3 percent of the state’s federal student loan debt.

Before it closed earlier this year, the polling site fivethirtyeight said MGP voted with Biden only 54% of the time on selected bills, the second lowest rate among Democrats.

There’s some merit to some of these complaints, but calls for another Democrat to “primary” MGP are foolish and self-defeating.

This is EXACTLY what Republicans did when they recruited Joe Kent and others to oppose 10-year-incumbent Congresswoman Jamie Herrera Beutler after she voted to impeach Trump over the January 6 Capitol riot. Herrera Beutler, a moderate-trending conservative, had won easy re-election victories since she first won the seat in 2010. By nominating MAGA extremist Kent in 2022 (and again in 2024), Republicans handed a safe seat back to the Democrats.

You can be sure that members of the grand old party are lining up to vote for any Democrat who challenges MGP in the 2026 primary. Yet some party leaders, including former state Democratic party chair Tina Podlodowski, say the party needs an alternative to MGP.

So far the only Democrat challenging the incumbent is Brent Hennrich, a former movie theater operations manager who ran a lackluster campaign for the congressional seat in 2022.

“With our nation in crisis, Democrats in Congress must do everything in their power to block the radical Trump agenda, but our incumbent has been far too willing to compromise on bills that threaten our rights, our prosperity, and our health,” Hennrich wrote in a recent post announcing his candidacy.

You can be certain that Republicans are salivating at the prospect of Democrats nominating Hennrich.

The ruling party usually loses a ground in mid-term elections. With the GOP holding only a 3-vote House majority, chances are good that Democrats could win back control of the chamber, especially if President Trump’s approval ratings continue to fall.

Ditching MGP — and handing the 3rd District seat back to the GOP — would undermine the party’s chances to win back control of the House.

MGP has a seat on the appropriations committee, which puts her in a strong position to advocate for this region. Does the region want to lose her voice on the influential committee, which helps determine spending for things such as river dredging, bridge construction and forest management?

It’s true that MGP defies stereotypes. The daughter of a Texas preacher who attended liberal Reed College and who co-owns a Portland auto repair shop, she’s equally comfortable quoting scripture and dropping “F” bombs.

On one hand, she shares progressive views on abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and access to childcare. But she take conservative positions on gun rights and supports the timber industry. (A well-used 1950s chain saw hangs in her congressional office.)

MGP helped secure nearly $2.1 billion in federal funding for the Interstate Bridge replacement project and she has opposed attempts to finance the span with tolls. She fought to keep a Chehalis Veteran’s Clinic open. She’s been a big advocate for job training. Her office has excelled in helping constituents who have struggled with the federal bureaucracy.

And it’s not like she’s failed to criticize the Trump administration, especially when its policies hit the district, such as cuts to wildfire personnel and NOAA buoys that help guide fishermen as well as proposed reductions in Medicaid and food programs.

Her focus on the district’s needs — and no doubt her blue-collar background and appeal for moderation — help explain why she has twice defied the pundits to win election in a district that has voted for Trump three times. Even so, MGP likely would not have defeated Herrera-Beutler had the GOP not nominated Kent, a MAGA extremist and conspiracy theorist who defended the January 6 insurrectionists.

Progressives want MGP to be more combative vis-a-vis Trump. They want her to be more ideologically in synch with liberal values. But they’re asking her to be something she isn’t and never pretended to be. And their insistence ignores reality: The 3rd District is still very red. MGP is the only Democratic candidate for federal or statewide office to carry the district in at least a decade, according to the Associated Press.

It’s likely that Republicans will come after her again. This time the GOP nominee will likely be someone more palatable — though equally MAGA oriented — than Trump-backed Kent. Kent’s strident rhetoric chased at least some moderate Republicans to vote for MGP. (Kent is now a top aide to national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard. He is under fire for ordering officials to rewrite an intelligence assessment so it wouldn’t contradict President Trump’s claim that Venezuela’s government controls a criminal gang.)

Politics is about having power and votes. Moral victories count for nothing. Nominating a more liberal alternative to MGP, or weakening her with a serious primary contender, might make progressives feel good. To do so, however, is a self-destructive strategy that would undercut Democrats’ most important imperative — regaining control of the House.