VANCOUVER, Wash.—Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) has survived a fierce jungle primary, teeing up a closely watched midterm race that could decide which party controls Congress in 2027.
As of 8:17 pm local time, The Associated Press projected that Perez and a Republican opponent, State Sen. John Braun, would advance to the November general election for Washington’s Third District.
With an estimated 59 percent of the vote counted, Perez had 39.1 percent of the total, while Braun had 38.5 percent.
Another Democratic candidate, Brent Hennrich, was trailing in third with 15.5 percent of the vote.
Several other candidates claimed the remaining votes in the race, which was conducted under Washington’s Top Two Primary system.
That system allows voters to select from among all the candidates vying for a particular office. Candidates may also specify a party preference on the ballot, though that does not necessarily indicate that they are that party’s nominee.
Perez, a chair of the moderate Blue Dog Caucus, has traversed challenging terrain in the Third.
The district, which spans a picturesque section of southwest Washington state from the Pacific Ocean to volcanic Mount Adams, narrowly favors the Republican Party, according to the Cook Political Report’s 2026 Partisan Voting Index.
The sophomore congresswoman defeated Republican Joe Kent twice, first in 2022 and then in 2024.
She has come under fire from progressive Democrats for her voting record, including a 2025 vote in favor of the SAVE Act, a measure that would establish voter ID and citizenship-verification requirements in elections.
Perez flipped in early 2026, voting against the closely related SAVE America Act.
“Vote-by-mail is the gold standard in election security, and the SAVE America Act would undermine our state’s longstanding elections process by forcing Washingtonians to jump through nonsensical bureaucratic hoops in order to mail in their ballot,” she said.
In July, she joined almost all Republicans and a handful of Democrats to support the National Defense Authorization Act, which included a pay raise for service members and attached the SAVE America Act.
Perez’s receipt of money from pro-Israel groups has also driven criticism from progressives.
A repair shop in Portland, Oregon, owned by her husband, was vandalized early in 2026.
Although Perez has faced criticism from some progressive Democrats, she has allies in House leadership.
In the days leading up to the primary, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calf.), the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, campaigned for the congresswoman in Vancouver, the largest city in her district and an anchor of the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area along the Columbia River.
A fund associated with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has also donated to Perez.
The District and the Big Picture
Despite the potentially high stakes, it was hard to detect much excitement on the ground in the Third. Political signage was scarce. Some locals expressed indifference about the race. Others who spoke with The Epoch Times said they were not from Washington or, in some cases, not U.S. citizens.
Gavin, a young man in Vancouver who did not share his last name, told The Epoch Times that “there’s a lot of people here who aren’t really engaged” in government and politics.
He voiced concern about Perez’s backing from pro-Israel groups, saying her stances had demoralized at least some young voters in the area. Gavin, who was on his way to a public library to pick up an information guide about the candidates, said he did not plan to vote for Perez in the primary.
Yet, if it came down to Perez against Braun in the general election, he said he would pull the lever for the incumbent, describing her as “the lesser of two evils.”
Anne Devereaux, who was shopping at an antiques mall in Kalama, told The Epoch Times she had some manageable misgivings about Perez.
“I see her leaning a little towards the other side a little bit that I don’t approve of, but I still think she’s the better of the two,” she said.
In Ridgefield, a sleepy city north of Vancouver, Dean Veeder told The Epoch Times that he appreciated the fact that Perez “says what she stands for.”
“However, I’m rather conservative, so I didn’t vote for her,” he continued, adding that he supports Braun.
Veeder’s top political agenda items included retaining local businesses and addressing the homeless problem in Vancouver.
“It’s not much different than Portland, and they need to change it,” he said of the scope of homelessness in that city.
The Cook Political Report has assessed the race as a toss-up. On the other hand, the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia has said the seat leans Democratic.
Braun, the minority leader of the Washington state Senate, has campaigned on a mix of national and local issues, including affordability, border enforcement, addressing homelessness, and controlling sea lion populations that threaten fish in the Columbia River basin.
The U.S. Navy veteran is on the National Republican Congressional Committee’s “MAGA Majority” list, a group of candidates in Democrat-controlled swing districts that Republicans hope to flip.
As of mid-July, Perez’s campaign led Braun’s in cash reserves, with more than $2 million on hand, compared with about $1.1 million held by the state senator’s campaign.
The congresswoman’s fundraising includes more than $600,000 from the House Victory Project 2026, a joint fundraising committee with other Democrats seeking to flip or retain competitive seats. That committee’s backers include financier John Vogelstein and members of the Pritzker family.
Braun’s campaign backers include a committee associated with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), The Eye of the Tiger PAC.
The independent spending in the race includes $55,000 against Braun from a Super PAC aligned with Democrats, Together for Working People.
A July analysis from the Cook Political Report found that the mid-decade redistricting battle between the parties—a competition first urged on by President Donald Trump—has worked out in favor of Republicans.
That leaves House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and conservative donors with a little more breathing room even as they confront a national environment that could prove challenging for the GOP, the party now in control of the House, the Senate, and the White House.
Polls show that Americans continue to worry about the economy and, in particular, affordability—issues that swung the electorate to the Republican Party in 2024.
The ongoing Iran War, linked to national and worldwide inflation because of its impact on energy costs, could hinder Republicans electorally, too.
A recent survey from Reuters/Ipsos found that just one-third of Americans back that conflict, which Israel and the United States launched almost half a year ago.
While Perez has stood closer to Trump than many Democrats, both she and her former opponent, Kent, have distanced themselves from the president when it comes to Iran.
The congresswoman has repeatedly supported war powers resolutions aimed at curtailing or ending operations in Iran.
Kent resigned from his position in the administration as director of the National Counterterrorism Center in March because of his opposition to the war.
