Marie Perez

Two-term U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez will face prominent Washington state lawmaker John Braun in one of November’s tightest races for a U.S. House seat.

In preliminary all-party primary results released shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, Braun, a centrist Republican, had captured nearly 39% of the vote and Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat who votes often with Republicans, had almost 39%.

They will vie to represent southwest Washington’s sprawling 3rd District, which covers Vancouver and its suburbs and also stretches across numerous mostly rural counties. The district is in the national spotlight because its voters sided with Republican Donald Trump three times since 2016 in presidential races but have also sent the pro-union, pro-choice Democrat to Congress in 2022 and 2024.

The third strongest candidate in the race, progressive Democrat Brent Hennrich, captured 15% of the vote in preliminary returns, the state elections office reported.

The open primary race featured nine candidates, including four Democrats and three Republicans.

Vote totals will change as ballots turned in on Election Day continue to be tallied and ones mailed as recently as Tuesday continue to reach elections offices later this week.

Gluesenkamp Perez pulled off one of the nation’s biggest political upsets of 2022 when she flipped the reliably Republican seat to Democratic control. That year, she narrowly defeated first time candidate Joe Kent, a former Green Beret and Republican firebrand who lost favor with some in his party. She beat Kent comfortably in their 2024 rematch.

Braun is widely seen as a more viable candidate for the 3rd District, and independent spending by national committees associated with both major parties is expected to flood the district in the coming months.

As of July 15, Gluesenkamp Perez had raised $6.3 million for her campaign and had $2 million on hand, compared to Braun, with $2 million raised and $1.1 million on hand, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Hennrich had raised almost $260,000 and had spent all but about $17,000 of it, the elections commission reported.

The most recent publicly released poll, conducted by Emerson College in early July, found Braun and Gluesenkamp Perez tied heading into the November race. The leader of the progressive nonprofit that commissioned the poll said that suggests Gluesenkamp Perez will win, since Kent also tied with her at a similar point in 2022 and 2024 – and she went on to win.

Republicans face strong headwinds nationally and in Washington’s 3rd District this year, given voters’ historic propensity to oppose the party in power in midterm elections and Trump’s under 40% approval rating in the district, Erin Covey, the editor at the independent Cook Political Report who specializes in House races, told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

A crowd of about 150 mingled around 8:10 p.m. at Gluesenkamp Perez’s Vancouver watch party awaiting initial results. Spirits seemed high with chatter and light music — though most simply seemed anxious to see ballots counted.

Gluesenkamp Perez addressed her supporters about 30 minutes later. The crowd booed as she said she’d face Braun in the general election.

“The margins are tight,” she told reporters afterward, addressing Tuesday night’s preliminary results. “But we are really encouraged to see how many people we’ve been able to bring on board.”