The primary result makes for a second matchup between Gluesenkamp Perez and Kent in the Republican-leaning district, which Kent narrowly lost in 2022
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) and her Republican challenger Joe Kent advanced to the general election runoff in Washington’s congressional primary election on Aug. 6.
Gluesenkamp Perez, a first-term member, is regarded as one of the most vulnerable House Democrats in the 2024 election cycle—representing a Republican-leaning district in southwest Washington.
She flipped the district in 2022 after the incumbent Republican representative Jamie Herrara Beutler (R-Wash.) was denounced by former President Donald Trump and subsequently finished third in that year’s primary election. Beutler had voted to impeach Trump for the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
The State of Washington uses a nonpartisan blanket primary system, whereby all candidates compete on the same ballot, regardless of party, and the top two candidates advance to the general election.
“This race could not be more different today than it was two years ago when we emerged from the primary not just broke but in debt,” wrote Kent in a statement to The Epoch Times. He went on to criticize Gluesenkamp Perez’s positions on Second Amendment rights, women’s sports, and local issues such as infrastructure and forests.
Another Republican candidate, Camas City Councillor Leslie Lewallen, received 12.4 percent of the vote, while independent candidate John Saulie-Rohman received 2.3 percent.
Kent was endorsed by Trump on July 28.
Gluesenkamp Perez’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.