Washington’s 8th Congressional District – which includes parts of eastern King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, plus Chelan and Kittitas counties – has long been considered the most competitive in the state. A longtime moderate Republican stronghold, voters in the district voted for Schrier by slim margins in both 2018 and 2020.
Right now, Democrats hold just a five-seat majority in the U.S. House, and the party that controls the White House often sees congressional losses in midterm elections. As Schrier and Larkin exchange jabs over abortion rights and the state of the economy, the 8th District is expected to be a crucial factor in the determining the balance of power.
The other potentially-close race – Washington’s 3rd Congressional District in southwest Washington – only surfaced in August, when U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, was sidelined in the top-two primary.
A swath of GOP voters punished Herrera Beutler, a six-term incumbent, for being one of only 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach former U.S. President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
Now, voters in this district – which includes Clark County and the city of Vancouver, as well as Pacific, Wahkiakum, Skamania, Lewis and Cowlitz counties and a bit of Thurston County. – are tasked with choosing two relatively young and inexperienced candidates.
Joe Kent, a former Green Beret and intelligence worker, is an outspoken Republican and America First candidate endorsed by Trump, a sharp turn from the moderate Republicans and Democrats elected to the district in recent times. Kent has also drawn scrutiny for affiliations and interactions with white nationalists, and far-right groups like the Proud Boys – some of whose members have been charged with felonies in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
He faces Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a rural Skamania resident and auto-shop owner running for the Democrats. Democratic officials like Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and state Democratic Party chair Tina Podlodowski have campaigned for Gluesenkemp Perez, warning that Kent is a threat to democracy.
Kent has vowed to impeach President Joe Biden, close the Southern border with Mexico – by using the military, if necessary – and has supported Trump’s baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen.
Gluesenkamp Perez, who caucused for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders to be the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, is touting her support for abortion rights and has vowed to be a pragmatist who supports small businesses.
Gluesenkamp Perez raised $2.1 million in the latest quarter, according to federal filings, and has $777,000 on hand. Kent raised $650,000 this quarter, according to the commission, and has $327,000 available to spend.
The 3rd Congressional District wasn’t overly enthused about Trump in 2020 – the former president carried the congressional district by 4 percentage points. In that same election, Herrera Beutler defeated her Democratic challenger by 13 percentage points. Nonetheless, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee isn’t putting in resources to help Gluesenkamp Perez try and pick up the seat.
For the Senate, Smiley, the Republican, raised $5.7 million in the latest quarter and has $2.45 million available to spend, according to the commission. Murray raised about $3.4 million this quarter, but still has more dollars than Smiley – about $3.8 million – on hand still to spend.
