CHICAGO — Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene took her turn in the spotlight at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, urging voters to return the House of Representatives to Democratic control.
Americans want “a government that works” and opposes GOP dysfunction and plans such as a national abortion ban, DelBene said, saying a prospective President Kamala Harris and Vice President Tim Walz need help to carry out their agenda.
“Giving them a Democratic Congress is how we turn promises into progress,” DelBene said in a three-minute speech, pointing to policies such as an expanded child tax credit and protecting reproductive rights.
As the sole representative from Washington to land a coveted DNC speaking slot, DelBene was not onstage because she’s in a key reelection race, or for her reputation as an orator.
But as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee this year, DelBene is leading the party’s high-stakes strategic and fundraising efforts to win back the House.
It’s a position that has elevated the Medina Democrat’s national profile and will hand her a share of credit — or blame — depending on the results this fall.
To take back the House, Democrats need to gain a net of four seats through a combination of defending their incumbents, winning open seats and ousting Republican representatives.
Both Republicans and Democrats acknowledge the battle for House control runs in part through key races in the Pacific Northwest, including Southwest Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, where Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washougal, one of the nation’s most vulnerable Democrats, is set for a rematch with Joe Kent, the Donald Trump-endorsed Green Beret combat veteran who narrowly lost to her two years ago.
Gluesenkamp Perez is not in attendance at the DNC.
In Chicago this week, DelBene briefed journalists and donors on Democrats’ prospects. She met with dozens of national journalists at a downtown Chicago hotel conference room Monday, getting peppered with questions about strategy and fundraising in races across the country and whether the Harris-Walz ticket would help or hinder the party in more Republican-leaning districts.
DelBene returned again and again to the same theme, asserting Democrats were already on a path to potentially win a House majority when President Joe Biden was still running. With Harris at the top of the ticket, she said, things have gotten even better.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised nearly $1 million in the 24 hours after Biden quit the race and Harris jumped in, DelBene said. It raised $17.6 million in July, for a total of $107 million this year. That outpaced the National Republican Congressional Committee, which raised $11.7 million in July and about $82 million total this year.
The DCCC is protecting 31 “front-liner” incumbents in potentially competitive races, including Gluesenkamp Perez and Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Sammamish, in Washington.
“Retaking the majority starts with protecting our incumbents,” DelBene told reporters at the briefing. “They are running well, running ahead of their Republican challengers.”
Meanwhile, Democrats are on offense in 30 other districts they’ve labeled “red to blue” pickup opportunities. That includes Oregon, where Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer is facing a strong challenge from Democrat Janelle Bynum.
“We have campaigns in every corner of the country,” DelBene said. “We have competitive races in blue states like California and New York. We also have strong pickup opportunities in red states like Iowa, Nebraska and even Alabama.”
“Given all this, we definitely are on the path to win back the House, and we have multiple paths to do it,” she said.
DelBene, a former Microsoft executive and one of the wealthiest members of Congress, was first elected in 2012 in the 1st Congressional District, which was seen at the time as a competitive swing seat.
She has easily won reelection ever since and has established herself as a leader of the party’s more centrist wing. In 2020, she was elected chair of the New Democrat Coalition, a position she stepped down from to run the DCCC this year.
DelBene sailed through the August primary with 63% of the vote against several little-known challengers and will face Republican Jeb Brewer, a construction executive, in November. Brewer has raised just $10,000 for his campaign, to DelBene’s $2.9 million.
In keeping with Democrats’ giddiness about polling bumps since Biden stepped away and Harris became the party’s nominee, DelBene was bullish on House races across the country.
In an interview, she said she’s confident Gluesenkamp Perez will prevail again against Kent, despite the 3rd District’s Republican-leaning electorate. (Gluesenkamp Perez beat Kent by just 2,629 votes in 2022 in one of the nation’s biggest upsets for Democrats.)
In Chicago, national Republicans have paid for a mobile billboard rolling around the city, targeting Gluesenkamp Perez and four other vulnerable House Democrats as “Harris enablers” and linking them to far-left policies such as defunding the police and “open borders.”
DelBene said Gluesenkamp Perez, who owns a Portland auto shop and has carved out a moderate voting record, is a “strong candidate” who will contrast herself with “one of the most extreme folks running on the Republican side.”
Gluesenkamp Perez took 46% of the vote in the primary, to Kent’s 39%. But a second Republican challenger, Leslie Lewallen received 12%, giving Republicans a combined 51.5% of the vote.
The race this fall is shaping up to be one of 2024’s most competitive and national Republicans and Democrats have already booked millions of dollars in TV ad time for the fall in the Portland media market.
Republicans are expected to push back on Gluesenkamp Perez’s moderate reputation, attempting to show it’s a facade and linking her to far-left elements and policies of the Democratic Party.
They’ll also work to highlight Kent’s military record, which included 11 combat deployments.
“Voters will deploy Army combat veteran Joe Kent to Congress to secure a conservative House majority, fight inflation and protect law and order. If Kamala Harris, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and extreme Democrats get their way, their radical agenda would turn southwest Washington into a Portland-style hellscape,” said Ben Petersen, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, in a statement.
