Surrounded by more than 100 supporters, Carolyn Long officially announced her candidacy for the 3rd Congressional District on Thursday. Among a sea of smiling faces at WareHouse ’23 were former 49th District state Rep. Jim Moeller, former state Sen. Craig Pridemore and Vancouver Councilors Jack Burkman and Alishia Topper.
Long joins an already crowded field of Democrats seeking to unseat Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground.
A political science professor at Washington State University Vancouver, Long filed official paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Nov. 13. She joins Dorothy Gasque, Peter Harrison and David McDevitt on the long list of Democrats running for the position.
Long said her decision to run has been a year in the making. When President Donald Trump was elected, she said she “decided to get off the sidelines and get into the game.”
Prior to her campaign launch, Long spent the last few years working on incivility in politics with a “focus on building good conversation from the ground up.”
“That’s satisfying but I thought I could do more by being a positive role model in running for office and championing bipartisanship, reaching across the aisle, trying to get past this political division,” she said.
She added that this focus on dialogue and reaching across the aisle makes her stand out from the crowd.
The race for the 3rd District will admittedly come down to fundraising, something Long said she accepts as a challenge but doesn’t want to focus on.
“I’m more interested in getting out there and meeting with voters,” Long said. “I think if I could meet with voters and listen to their concerns and then really try to address them with the policies I want to advance, that’s the most important and rewarding to me, while accepting the fact you have to raise money to be competitive.”
Long also took the opportunity to call out Herrera Beutler as an example of what she doesn’t intend to do.
“We deserve a representative who is not afraid to hold town halls,” she said. “We need to elect a candidate who is ready to get to work.”
