Marie Perez

Hard-working, independent thinkers.

That’s who Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez said makes up her southwest Washington constituency — and who she’s hoping to win over as the last three months of campaigning approach.

“We are a community of makers and doers,” she told a crowd of supporters Tuesday night, “and people who understand the value of things that don’t fit on a spreadsheet.”

She spoke shortly after initial results in Washington’s primary election rolled in, confirming she would face Republican state Sen. John Braun in November for one of the most closely contested seats in the U.S. House.

Election results showed the candidates neck-and-neck, with Gluesenkamp Perez with 38.9% of the vote and Braun with 38.7%. With about half of ballots counted as of Wednesday, the margin between the two was about 300 votes.

The race is a 50-50 toss-up for the district that swung in favor of President Donald Trump in 2024, according to the independent elections analyst Cook Political Report.

Campaign messaging in the weeks leading up to the general election could make all the difference in such a tight race. Both candidates have said they stand with working-class Washingtonians — and that a vote for the other is one for maintaining the status quo.

At a Tuesday night watch party in Vancouver, Gluesenkamp Perez characterized the residents of her district as working-class people who care about affordability and raising their families in safe communities.

Gluesenkamp Perez, a moderate Democrat who took office in 2022, also said she would remain skeptical of big business and government. She’s a small business owner and graduate of Reed College who lives with her family in rural Skamania County.

“It’s not about this rigid partisan ideology,” she told reporters Tuesday night. “It’s about loyalty to place and rejecting what D.C. wants you to say is important to you.”

She also noted that the margin in the election was close, comparing the number of votes between her and Braun to the number of doors a single campaign volunteer could knock on during canvassing.

She cast Braun as a wealthy GOP operator more interested in pleasing his party and the president than the district. She said Tuesday night that her loyalties remained with the people of southwest Washington and that she “didn’t have to get anybody else’s name to stand behind” hers, referencing that Braun secured Trump’s endorsement.

In a Wednesday statement following the election, Braun similarly said district residents hoped for better business and lower costs. He also said people are interested in less “red tape” and regulations on their livelihoods.

He said he would work with anyone when it benefits southwest Washington, “and I’ll stand up to anyone when it doesn’t.”

Braun, a businessman and former Navy captain, has served in the state legislature since 2012 and is leader of the Senate’s Republican caucus. He lives in rural Lewis County.

Meanwhile, Braun said everyday issues, such as better schools and safer communities, have only gotten worse under Gluesenkamp Perez’s leadership.

He also noted that a majority of the district voted for candidates other than the incumbent in the primary. Gluesenkamp Perez’s challenger from the left, Brent Hennrich, gained about 15.3% of the vote. Two other candidates — John P. Roco, a Republican, and John Saulie-Rohman, an Independent — secured less than 2% of the vote each.

“It’s time for a change,” Braun said.

The candidates have until Election Day on Nov. 3 to recruit fence-sitting voters.