Democratic Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez and Trump-backed Republican advance in Washington’s 3rd District primary

Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican state Sen. John Braun will advance to the general election in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, CBS News projects. 

Washington has nonpartisan primaries, with the top two candidates with the most votes appearing on the November ballot. Gluesenkamp Perez and Braun beat seven other candidates to advance.

The race is one of the closest-watched House contests this cycle and will help decide who controls the lower chamber as of early next year. It was one of 13 districts that voted for President Trump in 2024 while also electing a Democrat to the House. 

University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rates the race as leans Democratic. The Cook Political Report rates it as a tossup. 

Gluesenkamp Perez has represented the district in the southwestern corner of the state since 2023, twice defeating far-right conservative Joe Kent, who went on to become Mr. Trump’s counterterrorism chief before resigning in protest over the Iran war. 

The two-term congresswoman has angered the left flank of her party with votes that have helped make her appealing in the rural district. She voted against President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, in favor of military support to Israel and supported a previous version of Mr. Trump’s voting regulations bill, now known as the SAVE America Act. 

Mr. Trump endorsed Braun in April, calling Gluesenkamp Perez “a true radical left extremist.” 

Braun, a Navy veteran who runs an emergency vehicle manufacturing plant, has served in various leadership roles since his election to the state Senate in 2012. 

In a recent interview with local news station KGW, Braun disagreed with Mr. Trump on whether he lost the 2020 election, affirming that Biden won. 

“That’s correct,” Braun said when asked to clarify that Biden won. 

Braun also criticized Mr. Trump’s sweeping tariffs, saying the “broad, sometimes indiscriminate use of tariffs can be very harmful,” including on his own manufacturing business. He added that there are appropriate uses for the import taxes, such as “when you’re talking about some of the threats from China and from Russia.”