Perez and Braun advance in WA-03 primary separated by just hundreds of votes

Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican state Sen. John Braun advanced Tuesday night to the general election in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, but the razor-thin gap between them revealed a race that is already living up to its “toss-up” billing.

With nearly 60 percent of the expected vote counted, Gluesenkamp Perez had 54,132 votes, or 38.9 percent, while Braun had 53,869 votes, or 38.7 percent. Just 263 votes separated the incumbent congresswoman from her Republican challenger in the initial returns. The Associated Press projected both candidates would advance shortly after 8 pm Tuesday.

Washington uses a top-two primary system in which every candidate appears on the same ballot, regardless of party, and the two highest finishers advance to November.

Progressive Democrat Brent Hennrich was running a distant third with approximately 15 percent of the vote after campaigning against Gluesenkamp Perez from the left. The results set up a closely watched general election rematch between two candidates who were effectively tied on primary night.

Gluesenkamp Perez has worked to build a reputation as one of the more centrist Democrats in Congress, occasionally breaking with her party on border security, government funding and law enforcement. She has presented herself as a champion of tradespeople, small businesses, manufacturing and rural communities.

That carefully cultivated image has faced mounting scrutiny, however, as Republicans challenge her record and progressives accuse her of repeatedly siding with the GOP.

Braun, a retired Navy captain and longtime state legislator, has represented Washington’s 20th Legislative District since 2012. He has led the state Senate Republican Caucus since 2021 and is campaigning on lower taxes, public safety, government accountability and economic growth.

The “purple” district includes Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Pacific, Wahkiakum and Skamania counties, along with a small portion of Thurston County. The near-even primary result follows months of warning signs for Gluesenkamp Perez.

Inside Elections previously moved the race from “Tilt Democratic” to “Toss Up,” citing the incumbent’s problems with Democratic base voters and the district’s Republican lean. President Donald Trump carried the district by roughly three percentage points in 2024.

A Republican-commissioned co/efficient survey conducted in late April also found Braun leading Gluesenkamp Perez 41 percent to 34 percent in a hypothetical general election matchup. The poll showed 50 percent of respondents viewed the incumbent unfavorably, while she was receiving support from only 69 percent of Democrats.

The seat is seen as one of the most vulnerable for Democrats heading into the midterm elections.

The National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Christian Martinez said of the results, “Fraud Marie Gluesenkamp Perez's blue-collar costume is shredded, exposing a tax-hiking, socialist-funded coward underneath. Perez voted against tax relief for working families, stands against protecting women's sports, and folded when asked to condemn the socialists taking over her party. John Braun is a Navy veteran and job creator, and in November Southwest Washington will send Perez's sputtering political career straight to the scrapyard.”