RIDGEFIELD — Residents shared concerns about agriculture, the timber industry and COVID-19 vaccines with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was in Ridgefield on Thursday to campaign for 3rd Congressional District Republican candidate Joe Kent.
“My presence here shows you how important this district is to all of America,” Johnson, R-La., told the crowd.
Kent is facing incumbent Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, to represent Southwest Washington. With Perez beating Kent by just 2,629 votes in 2022, the race is considered a hotly contested toss-up that could affect the majority in the House.
Thursday’s crowd, many wearing Donald Trump’s signature MAGA hats and Kent stickers, couldn’t fit into the building organizers have dubbed the Republican Victory Office. People stood in the parking lot, along Northeast Delfel Road north of the Clark County Event Center, as Kent and Johnson addressed the crowd.
Johnson held a campaign event with Kent in August and has been visiting districts across the country to promote Republican candidates ahead of Election Day.
Johnson encouraged the crowd to vote out Democrats such as Perez, whom he said had become too extreme.
“They want us to be some sort of European-style Marxist Utopia or something,” he said.
Perez describes herself as a moderate and has a history of bipartisan votes in the House.
Johnson and Kent responded to comments and questions from the crowd. One woman said her daughter died from side effects from a COVID-19 vaccine and claimed she was censored when she tried to post a warning on social media.
“People literally died because of it,” Johnson said. “I’m so sorry. This guy will fight for your freedom.”
More than 1,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Clark County, according to Clark County Public Health.
The Columbian asked Johnson whether he thought he was spreading dangerous misinformation regarding vaccines.
“I do not. I think you go check that. You’re the journalist. Go investigate it,” he said.
COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, according to the Washington Department of Health, and recommended for everyone ages 6 months and older.
Although rare cases of myocarditis after a COVID-19 vaccination raised red flags early on, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study this year found no correlation between the vaccines and sudden death among previously healthy young people.
In response to a crowd member’s concern about the health of the agricultural industry, Kent said deregulation would help small farmers stay in business.
Clark County has around 2,000 farms. In 2017, the last time the U.S. Department of Agriculture collected county-level data on farms, many farmers in Clark County spent more on production than they earned, resulting in an average net loss of almost $5,000.
Johnson said he hasn’t decided which committees Kent should sit on if he were elected but said that Kent may be interested in agricultural policy.
Someone in the crowd raised a concern about the future of the timber industry, once a cornerstone of Southwest Washington’s economy. Kent said responsible timber harvesting will prevent wildfires while bolstering the industry.
“For the last couple decades, we’ve tried this experiment of killing off the timber industry. And are our forests better off? No,” Kent said.
The roughly half-hour rally was one stop in Johnson’s tour of 24 swing states that started last week.
Election Day is Nov. 5. For ballot drop box information, visit clark.wa.gov/elections.
