CHEHALIS, Wash. – Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez walked through a county fairgrounds south of Seattle carrying an unremarkable kitchen knife and two pairs of rusted scissors.
She brought the tools to Beverly Phoenix, who was bent over a table in the rear of an exhibit hall, volunteering to restore old household items for local residents. This time, Phoenix was showing a member of Congress how to use a Dremel, a handheld oscillating tool, to sharpen the blades.
The low-key campaign stop underscored Gluesenkamp Perez’s message of self-reliance. She owns an auto repair shop with her husband and has built her political identity around bridging the gaps between urban and rural communities, blue-collar and white-collar workers, and the political left and right.
For Democrats seeking to regain control of the U.S. House, holding districts like this one in Southwest Washington will be essential. Voters there have elected Gluesenkamp Perez twice while also backing President Donald Trump in each of his campaigns. As the party debates how much influence to give its growing progressive movement, making room for moderate and unconventional Democrats could prove just as important to building and preserving a lasting majority.
“We are a really independent community. What we want is respect for our priorities, for our values,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. When her views clash with Democratic leaders, she said, her responsibility is “explaining my community to D.C., not letting D.C. try to define my community’s priorities.”
At 38, Gluesenkamp Perez faces a substantially different challenge this year. Her previous two races were against Republican Joe Kent, who had ties to extremists. Her current opponent, John Braun, is a businessman and state legislator viewed as more mainstream and potentially better positioned to attract moderate voters in the district.
Gluesenkamp Perez is a lightning rod for progressive criticism
The Pacific Northwest is widely seen as a progressive stronghold, but Washington’s 3rd Congressional District defies easy political labels. It includes the northern edge of the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area as well as broad rural stretches where fishing, logging and manufacturing drive the economy.
Navigating those competing interests has sometimes left Gluesenkamp Perez among the small number of Democrats willing to join Republicans on key votes.
She opposed President Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan and backed a Republican election proposal supported by Trump. She also voted for the Laken Riley immigration bill and defense legislation containing restrictions on abortion and climate initiatives.
Gluesenkamp Perez voted to censure fellow Democratic Reps. Al Green of Texas and Rashida Tlaib. She also introduced a resolution seeking to reprimand Democratic Rep. Chuy Garcia for quietly maneuvering to effectively give his seat to a trusted aide.
The divide surfaced again last month, when Gluesenkamp Perez voted with Republicans twice on procedural matters. Such defections are considered particularly significant on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are generally expected to follow their party leaders on those votes.
Those votes allowed Republicans to force consideration of a resolution condemning socialism, placing some Democrats in an uncomfortable position during an election year.
“I get upset with her too at times, but you know, I also understand that she represents 800,000-plus people and that’s 800,000-plus opinions for differing views,” said Dale Benjamin, a 66-year-old retiree and self-described “Bernie progressive” from Battle Ground. “I’m very thankful to her that she’s willing to do that, especially in such a divisive place and time that we’re in right now.”
Gluesenkamp Perez has focused much of her legislative work on strengthening her blue-collar credentials and supporting the industries that define her district. She is a prominent advocate for “right to repair” legislation, which would allow consumers and independent businesses to fix tractors, cars and digital devices without relying on the manufacturers.
She has also taken on the sea lions gathering near dams on the Columbia River, where they eat salmon and steelhead before the fish reach fishermen. Gluesenkamp Perez has pushed legislation to make it easier to kill the animals, which she has called “Corolla-sized vermin.”
“People sometimes treat my agenda like it’s like quirky, and I’m like, this is actually very normal where I’m from,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
More moderate Democrats are likely headed to Washington
Democrats cannot regain control of the House without capturing at least a dozen districts that voted for Trump.
If they succeed, many of the party’s newest lawmakers — the candidates who could deliver a House majority — may look more like Gluesenkamp Perez than the democratic socialists who won a series of primaries in heavily Democratic districts this year.
Democratic leaders will need an agenda that speaks to moderates if they want to stay in power, said Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at Third Way, a Democratic group that advocates for centrist policies.
“What Democrats need to realize, when you win these seats, you’re in rental property. You don’t own them,” Kessler said. “You can keep them as long as you tend to them, but it just takes one bad cycle and they’re gone.”
Speaking of Gluesenkamp Perez, Kessler said “she’s carved out her own brand and she is able to survive in a hostile environment.”
“And if she needs some leeway to do it, then she needs that leeway,” he added.
Her electoral formula has worked so far. She finished 7 points ahead of Kamala Harris, Democrats’ last presidential candidate, in 2024, winning by 3 points while Harris lost the district by 4.
Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said Gluesenkamp Perez correctly challenges billionaires and corporations but sometimes “undermines Democrats just for the performative sake of opposing Democrats.”
“I view her politically like a teenager who’s developing muscles and learning how to use them,” Green said, “with an expectation that her punches will be stronger and aimed in a better direction more and more over time.”
John Braun is a military veteran, business executive and legislator
Ambulance, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles filled the parking lot at Braun Northwest, a manufacturer that sits alongside Interstate 5, the main thoroughfare through the district.
John Braun’s parents founded the business 40 years ago, and he was named president in 2006.
A retired Navy captain in the submarine service, a business executive and the Republican leader in the state Senate, Braun, 59 has the kind of pedigree that dominated his party before Trump remade it in his image.
It’s far different from Joe Kent, the party’s nominee who lost to Gluesenkamp Perez in 2022 and 2024. Kent’s campaign team included a consultant who was a member of the Proud Boys, and Kent supported conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Kent went on to lead the National Counterterrorism Center under Trump, resigning in March because of opposition to the Iran war.
Braun predicted that he would have more appeal to independent-minded voters, saying in an interview that Kent “wasn’t a good fit for the district.”
Gluesenkamp Perez has focused on “marginal issues” affecting slivers of her constituency and, despite some high-profile disputes, hasn’t broken with Democrats on “the things that really matter,” Braun said.
“It’s a very independent district, and while I think she has said ‘independent’ a lot, there’s a lot of frustration that she really hasn’t been all that independent,” Braun said.
Sandy Johnson, a 74-year-old Republican from Battle Ground, said Braun’s background in business is appealing, and he doesn’t see any difference between Gluesenkamp Perez and other Democrats.
“I can’t stand her. I think she’s a liar. She’s a manipulator,” Johnson said as he walked his dog in a park near his home. “She’s directed by them, and she follows them, not us.”
