WA 3rd congressional race turns heads nationally

The race for WA Congressional District 3

The match up for Washington's third congressional district is going to be a rematch — Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Joe Kent have faced off before.

CLARK COUNTY, Wash. - Washington’s third congressional district is one of the most important local races this election cycle.

It will help determine which party holds the majority in the U.S. House.

It is no déjà vu, because U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Joe Kent have faced off before.

District 3 covers a lot of rural ground in southwestern Washington like Lewis, Pacific, Skamania and Clark counties.

Kent, a former Green Beret, lost to business owner Perez in 2022 by less than a percentage point. Although he lost, he garnered some name recognition for beating his Republican opponent during the primaries, longtime incumbent Jamie Herrera Beutler.

"When I emerged as the Republican nominee, we had a very divided Republican Party. We don’t have that this time, I’ve been endorsed by the county party, all the state level parties," Kent said.

Kent believes the united backing from Republicans this time around will work in his favor come November as he continues to push his concerns including what he calls out of control spending.

"Another huge priority for me is getting rid of this crazy inflation that's destroying working families, and the inflation is being driven by out-of-control spending in Washington, DC," Kent said.

Kent says he would push for a cap on current spending if he gets a seat in Congress.

"We have to live within our means. We've also got to get back to being energy independent. We're very blessed here in America. We have enough oil and natural gas that we can actually produce pretty cheap petroleum, and that's going to actually drive down the cost of the pump. That's going to drive down the price of the grocery store," Kent said.

Perez says the high cost of goods is a point of contention for her, as well.

"We want to be able to run small businesses on a level playing field with the big guys, and that's, you know, one of the top reasons that I ran for Congress was a commitment to the right to repair legislation," Perez said.

As a business owner, Perez mentioned how she has been personally impacted by high costs, relating to others who are worried about everyday operational costs to run a store or a household.

"When I'm at the doors, over and over, you know the top eight out of 40 issues are always economic issues, whether you are worried about the cost of prescription drugs, whether you worried about the solvency of Social Security, now you can't find a starter home to buy," Perez said.

Meanwhile both have strong feelings about our region’s natural resources.

"I don't want to pollute somewhere else to import my timber and lumber from Croatia. I want to do it here, and keep those dollars local, keep the cultural knowledge, the generational knowledge of what forest stewardship looks like," Perez said.

"We need to get the federal government out of our forest, allow people to get back to working in the timber industry, so that we're responsible for our own natural resources. And the same thing with the Columbia River and our fishing industry," Kent said.

One topic at play in the district is how to handle the I-5 bridge replacement project in Clark County that will cost in the billions. Perez has pushed and secured some federal funding to replace the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River with the goal of widening and making the area safer. But Kent is opposed to replacing the bridge. Instead he wants to build a third bridge, saying replacing the existing one will not be enough to relieve traffic congestion. He’s also against tolls and expanding light rail on the bridge.

With a race so tight, independent voters will have to be swayed.

"I am the third-most independent member in terms of voting history. I'm always going to put our community first and our values," Perez said.

Within her own party, the Democrat has stood out at times for rejecting policies backed by progressive members, including voting against Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan and siding with Republicans on a resolution to condemn the Biden administration for their handling of the border.

"Really clear that I felt the administration was not exercising their authority to control the southern border, and so I voted," Perez said.

In Kent’s opinion, Perez’s actions on the southern border are still too weak to curb illegal immigration and stop fentanyl from pouring in.

"A lot of misdirection that she uses to say that she's serious about the border," Kent said.

Kent says he wants to build a wall.

"We need to shut down the border. We need to get our military down there to physically secure the border. I think it's ridiculous that we have our military deployed throughout the entire world, securing the borders of foreign nations while our border is wide open," Kent said.

In Perez’s opinion, Kent is extreme.

"He is a Second Amendment extremist… I support the Second Amendment. Joe Kent supports civil war," Perez said.

"That’s the last thing I want. I fought for our country. I defended our Constitution. I defended this nation with my life," Kent said.