Washington Democrat’s primary victory sets up 2022 rematch she nearly lost

Rep. Marie Glusenkamp-Perez (D-WA) brought in about 46.86% of the vote in Tuesday’s Washington state primary, where she faced off against second-place finisher Republican Joe Kent.

Glusenkamp-Perez is considered a centrist Democrat who caucuses with the House’s Blue Dog Coalition, which includes co-chairs Mary Peltola (D-AK) and Jared Golden (D-ME) among others. Her victory on Tuesday was a good sign, but warning signs remain beneath the surface.

The centrist Democrat took a shot at her opponent overnight in a post touting her primary victory. Washington has an open primary contest, where all candidates run against each other and the top two vote-getters move on to the general election.

“Tonight’s results are in, and we’ve won our top-two primary election by a wide margin,” she posted on X. “Thank you, Southwest Washington,” Glusenkamp-Perez said before writing extensively on why voters should choose her this November.

“Far-right weirdo Joe Kent is back, and the sequel is worse than the original. His extreme politics have a clear goal: divide us and break America. I’m the one thing standing between Joe Kent and Congress, and this election is a toss-up. But together we’ll beat Joe Kent — again,” she said.

November’s contest could be a replay of 2022. Kent nearly beat Glusenkamp-Perez in the general election after finishing roughly 8 points behind her in the primary 31%-22.8%.

Like in 2022, Kent had a tougher field to clear than Glusenkamp-Perez as Republicans scramble to try and knock off unsuspecting Democrats around the state. Last cycle, Kent split the GOP votes primarily with Jaime Herrera Beutler (22.3%) and Heidi St. John (15%). Last night, Leslie Lewallen took 12.4% of the votes cast.

As an incumbent, Glusenkamp-Perez had no Democratic challenger.

Following her comfortable victory over Kent in the primary, Glusenkamp-Perez barely held him off in the general election, squeaking by him 50.1%-49.3%.

She’s one of the most vulnerable Democrat incumbents — the Cook Political Report rates her race as a toss-up, and Decision Desk HQ gives Kent a 68% chance of winning. Glusenkamp-Perez has responded to the close race by playing to the center as much as possible, even declining to endorse Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Washington Democrat responded to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) celebratory statement for Kent on Wednesday with a humorous quip.

“I think you should Google him first,” she said. “He keeps losing to me, among other issues.”