Democrat Somehow Holds On To Her Own Seat
Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is projected to keep her seat in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, defeating Republican state Sen. John Braun in a district President Donald Trump carried in 2024.
Decision Desk HQ called the race Wednesday. In its Nov. 4 update, Gluesenkamp Perez had 54.7 percent of the vote to Braun’s 45.3 percent, with an estimated 83 percent of the vote counted.
Trump’s endorsement falls short in southwest Washington
Braun, a Navy veteran and business owner, had Trump’s endorsement as he sought to reclaim a seat Republicans held for 12 years before Gluesenkamp Perez flipped it in 2022. Trump argued that the incumbent was too far to the left for southwest Washington. He had carried the district by about 3.3 percentage points in 2024.
Gluesenkamp Perez, an auto repair shop owner, first won the seat by defeating Republican Joe Kent. In Congress, she has at times sided with Republicans on House votes, drawing criticism from within her own party. She leaned into that independent record during her reelection campaign.
The result helps Democrats in the fight for the House majority. For Republicans, it was a missed pickup in a district that backed Trump for president just two years earlier.
