'Let's go win this': MGP leans into record, pokes at opponents during campaign launch

May 18-True to the battleground nature of Washington's Third Congressional District and to the approach of its current congresswoman, U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez's campaign launch attracted both supporters and skeptics who consider themselves to be undecided in how they will vote this fall.

On Sunday, May 17, Gluesenkamp Perez and her campaign staff held her first official campaign event of the 2026 election cycle at her campaign headquarters in downtown Vancouver.

The event gathered campaign staff along with supporters and even some fence-sitting voters brought along by friends or neighbors who have been longtime supporters of the congresswoman.

Bryan Stewart, a longtime supporter of Gluesenkamp Perez, and his friend, Paul Abernethy, a self-described conservative and longtime Republican voter, both residents of Battle Ground, attended the event together along with Stewart's wife.

Abernethy said he votes Republican "98% of the time" but he remains undecided this election cycle and attended the event to learn more and make his own judgement about the incumbent. He said he was particularly interested in how far left she fell on the political spectrum.

"Is she for Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico becoming states or for the Supreme Court adding four seats?" Abernethy asked.

Jan Christie, a new resident of the district who moved to the Vancouver area in October 2025 from Bend, Oregon, was also new to the scene, and she was brought along by a friend. She said she didn't know about Gluesenkamp Perez before moving to the district, but came to the event because she was "interested in changing events nationally."

In an effort to light a fire in the belly of supporters and perhaps sway a few of those undecided attendees, mayors of two of the district's largest cities, Anne McEnerny-Ogle, of Vancouver, and Steve Hogan, Camas, gave stump speeches in support of the congresswoman.

Hogan gave Gluesenkamp Perez one piece of advice for her campaign trail: it's no place for cross-aisle cooperation.

"I know that you want to see bipartisanism take place, but my advice to you is that not during the campaign," Hogan said.

The representative gave her own forceful speech, during which she touted her successes in Congress, celebrated the competitive nature of her district and depicted her campaign and election as defiance against larger powers and institutions.

"I will never forget that and know where I come from and who sent me here," Gluesenkamp Perez said. "Because it was not the big players in this country. It was not big money. It was not generational wealth. It was not an Ivy League. It was us in Southwest Washington."

Throughout her speech, Gluesenkamp Perez repeatedly touched on the dwindling number of competitive congressional districts in the country, referring to the equal partisan balance in the Third District as a "gift." Gluesenkamp Perez said by her count there are fewer than 15 competitive congressional districts in the country.

Reporting over the years has suggested that gerrymandering and redistricting is steadily reducing the number of competitive congressional seats in the country. As they are every two years, all 435 congressional seats are up for re-election this year. Numbers from The Cook Political Report updated last week list just 18 seats in the country as tossups and another 17 as seats that lean Republican or Democrat but are still competitive.

Gluesenkamp Perez referred to redistricting efforts meant to yield safer seats to a party as a "shortcut to power" and later referred to the idea of doing the same in Washington state as "a mistake."

State officials, including Gov. Bob Ferguson, have recently suggested they would consider the move if Democrats won a super majority in both houses of the state Legislature. A super majority requires a two-thirds majority.

"Would it make my life simpler? Yeah," Gluesenkamp Perez said. "But that's not the point. The point is to represent a complex set of views and develop a policy solution to the world around us."

With that knowledge of her own competitive district comes the knowledge that this year's elections, like each of her previous elections, will pose a serious challenge.

The incumbent poked and prodded at her most significant Republican competitor, state Sen John Braun, R-Centralia, depicting him as a wealthy politician and MAGA darling.

"He's not just going to have to rely on his own vast personal wealth, but he's going to have, you know, MAGA Inc. behind him pouring money into this race," she said. "There's no substitute for hard work."

An opening comment from Gluesnekamp Perez appeared to strike at the large number of upstart Democrat challengers in the race, as she said, "we know I can win."

The most significant Democratic challenger, Brent Hennrich, has made a fundraising push in recent months, though he remains hundreds of thousands of dollars behind Braun and millions behind Gluesenkamp Perez.

When asked if she was concerned about Hennrich siphoning off deeper blue voters from her cause, Gluesenkamp Perez said "people have a right to vote how they'd like to." She added that her time so far has been focused on the work happening in Congress while her challengers had the time to start on the campaign trail.

"Right now, Brent's full-time job is campaigning, and it shows," the representative said.

With the Sunday afternoon event, Gluesenkamp Perez has made her own campaign official and enters as the incumbent and with a significant fundraising advantage of roughly $4.5 million raised.

She finished off her impassioned speech with a raised voice.

"Let's go win this," she said.

The primary election is in August. The two candidates with the most votes in that election will advance to the general election in November.

For an article on Braun's kickoff event, visit: https://tinyurl.com/mr8627nb

For an article on Hennrich's kickoff event, visit: https://tinyurl.com/5n6cbwue

For an article on the kickoff event for Cascade Party candidate Antony Barran, visit: https://tinyurl.com/54shvy7x

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