Yes, there’s a congressional race on the Left Coast that Republicans could wrest away from Democrats. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) from Washington’s 3rd District is underwater in her race, not well-liked, and trailing her primary challengers. Washington goes by a top-two primary system: everyone from all parties is on the ballot, and the top two vote-getters advance to the general election. Perez is trying to lie low, keeping mum about the state income tax issue (via Oregon Public Radio):
The race for Washington’s 3rd congressional district is expected to be one of the most competitive in the nation this fall, thanks to a wave of redistricting across the U.S. that has left few seats in play for either political party.
Washington state holds a “top-two primary,” which means that the top two vote-getters advance to the general election in November, regardless of party.
Yet as voters head into the Aug. 4 primary, experts predict a fiercely partisan general election, with an incumbent Democrat fighting to hold her seat against a state senator who’s been endorsed by President Donald Trump in a deeply purple district.
Two-term Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is favored in a field of four Democratic candidates. The frontrunner in a field of three GOP candidates appears to be state Sen. John Braun, a Trump favorite who represents a rural legislative district that includes northern Clark County.
Whoever emerges victorious will quickly find themselves at the heart of one of the fiercest and most closely watched Congressional races — one of just 18 seats without a likely outcome in November out of the entire 435-member House of Representatives, according to the Cook Political Report.
Perez knows she’s vulnerable, walking a waffled line on some issues, like this interview with a local NPR outlet, where she couldn’t handle questions about her ties and support for socialist causes. The FEC reports don’t lie; she’s taken in over $2 million from the MGP Victory Fund, which has ties to the Washington Democratic Party. It’s no shock, but lady, admit that you're in with socialists, because that’s the state party platform. There’s a lot of Mamdani in these pages.
When @libdenk asked about the socialist takeover of her party, @MGPforCongress short-circuited into a humiliating pile of "uhhs" and "umms."
— Christian Martinez (@CDHMartinez) July 21, 2026
She couldn’t say "socialist," refused to condemn them, and declared herself "100% on board" with the anger fueling their rise. pic.twitter.com/Dq1tWHZWiP
“Fraud Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is too spineless to confront the socialist takeover of her party, too cowardly to even utter the word socialism, and too weak to condemn it, said NRCC Spokesman Christian Martinez. “Her carefully manufactured political brand is a pathetic lie. Perez is nothing more than a weak, obedient puppet who dances whenever her socialist masters tug the strings.”
Tongue-tied by NPR, are we for real, lady?
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