Kristina Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez (née Pérez; born June 6, 1988) is an American politician. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, she is the U.S. representative-elect for

Washington's 3rd congressional district Washington's 3rd congressional district encompasses the southernmost portion of Western Washington. It includes the counties of Lewis, Pacific, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Clark, and Skamania; as well as a small portion of southern Thurston county. Th ...

, having been elected in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

. ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington ...

'' called Gluesenkamp Perez's victory over

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Joe Kent in this Republican-leaning district "the most stunning political upset in the country this year".

Early life and career

Gluesenkamp Perez was born on June 6, 1988. Her father immigrated from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. She graduated from

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

in 2012 with a degree in economics. She and her husband own an

automobile repair shop An automobile repair shop (also known regionally as a garage or a workshop) is an establishment where automobiles are repaired by auto mechanics and technicians. Types Automotive garages and repair shops can be divided into following categor ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. In 2016, Gluesenkamp Perez lost a race for

Skamania County Skamania County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,036. The county seat and largest incorporated city is Stevenson, although the Carson River Valley CDP is more populous. The ...

Commissioner. She received 32.79% of the vote in the August 2 primary election, finishing second behind

Richard Mahar. In the general election on November 8, she lost to Mahar with 46.3% of the vote. Gluesenkamp Perez has served on the

Washington State Democratic Party The Washington State Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Washington, headquartered in Seattle. It is also commonly referred to as the ''Washington State Democrats'' and the ''Washington Democratic Party' ...

executive committee since 2020. She has been a member of the Underwood Soil and Water District Conservation board of supervisors since 2018.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2022

Gluesenkamp Perez advanced from a

nonpartisan blanket primary A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party. ...

, which was implemented in

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

starting in the 2008 election. In this format, all candidates of all parties are listed on the same primary ballot, and the two who get the most votes advance to the general election. In the primary, she finished first out of all candidates with 31.0% of the vote.

Joe Kent finished in second place and also advanced to the general election, beating the incumbent representative, Republican

Jaime Herrera Beutler Jaime Lynn Herrera Beutler ( ; born November 3, 1978) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2023. The district is in southwestern Washington, lying across the Columbia River from Oregon's Portland met ...

, by .5%. Republican Heidi St. John finished fourth, with 16.0% of the vote. The other Democrat in the race, Davy Ray, received 2.2%. In the lead-up to the primary, Democrat Brent Hennrich, who had led in two early polls by the

Trafalgar Group The Trafalgar Group is an opinion polling and survey company founded by Robert Cahaly and based in Atlanta, Georgia. It first publicly released polls in 2016. Trafalgar has been questioned for its methodology and for an apparent bias towards the ...

, withdrew from the race and endorsed Gluesenkamp Perez. The general election's rating varied from "Lean R", according to ''The Cook Political Report'', to "Solid R" in ''

FiveThirtyEight ''FiveThirtyEight'', sometimes rendered as ''538'', is an American website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States. The website, which takes its name from the number of electors in th ...

's''

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

forecast. ''FiveThirtyEight'' estimated that Gluesenkamp Perez had a 2% chance of winning the general election over Kent, and was expected to receive 43.6% of the popular vote. She led in one of two polls and was trailing in the other, but both were within the margin of error. Her subsequent victory received national attention as one of the midterms' biggest upsets. Kent refused to concede until December 21 after a

recount An election recount is a repeat tabulation of votes cast in an election that is used to determine the correctness of an initial count. Recounts will often take place if the initial vote tally during an election is extremely close. Election reco ...

Political positions

In the

2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses were organized by the Democratic Party to select the 4,051 delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention held July 25–28 and determine the nominee for president in the 2016 United States presidential ...

, Gluesenkamp Perez supported Bernie Sanders. In 2022, she campaigned as a self-described moderate Democrat, a "supporter of both abortion rights and Second Amendment rights". She "emphasized support for small businesses, job training and local concerns, like the timber industry" and opposition to political extremism. Gluesenkamp Perez supports abortion rights, citing her personal experience of a miscarriage.

KGW KGW (channel 8) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Jefferson Street in southwestern Portland, and its transmitter is located in the city' ...

described her support for abortion rights as "a tenet of her campaign". Gluesenkamp Perez has also said that

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduct ...

, which she blames on companies outsourcing jobs, is the top issue affecting voters in her district. She has called for both increased usage of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the short term and a long-term increase in the number of jobs available in green industries. Gluesenkamp Perez believes that

vote by mail Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system. In an ele ...

is safe and has refuted unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud among mail-in ballots. She has condemned the

January 6 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then- U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob was seeking to keep Trump in p ...

and criticized Kent for not doing so. Gluesenkamp Perez opposes a ban on assault weapons, but has expressed interest in raising the age required to purchase an assault weapon to 21 from 18. She has also called for increased hiring of police to handle a surge in

property crime Property crime is a category of crime, usually involving private property, that includes, among other crimes, burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, shoplifting, and vandalism. Property crime is a crime to obtain money, property, o ...

Personal life

Gluesenkamp Perez lives near

Stevenson, Washington Stevenson is a city in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area along the Columbia River in Skamania County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,465 at the 2010 census, a 22% increase over 2000. It is the county seat of Skam ...

, in

. She is a gun owner. Married to Dean Gluesenkamp, she has one child.

Electoral history

References

External links

Marie Gluesenkamp Perez for Congress
campaign website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gluesenkamp Perez, Marie 1980s births Living people People from Skamania County, Washington Reed College alumni 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Washington (state) Women in Washington (state) politics American politicians of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American members of the United States Congress Female members of the United States House of Representatives