Gluesenkamp Perez and Trump-backed Braun advance in Washington House race

Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican state Sen. John Braun advanced from Washington's 3rd Congressional District primary to the November general election, per CBS News. Gluesenkamp Perez and Braun beat seven other candidates in the state's nonpartisan primary, which advances the top two vote-getters to the general ballot regardless of party affiliation.

Gluesenkamp Perez, a two-term congresswoman, has represented the district since 2023. She twice defeated Trump-backed candidate Joe Kent, who later became Trump's counterterrorism chief before resigning in protest over the Iran war. In her congressional record, Gluesenkamp Perez voted against President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, voted in favor of military support to Israel, and supported a previous version of Trump's voting regulations bill, now known as the SAVE America Act.

Braun, a Navy veteran who was elected to the state Senate in 2012, runs an emergency vehicle manufacturing plant. Trump endorsed Braun in April and called Gluesenkamp Perez "a true radical left extremist." However, in a recent interview with local news station KGW, Braun publicly disagreed with Trump on the 2020 election, affirming that Biden won when asked to clarify. Braun also criticized Trump's sweeping tariffs, saying the "broad, sometimes indiscriminate use of tariffs can be very harmful," including to his own manufacturing business, while allowing that import taxes are appropriate when "talking about some of the threats from China and from Russia."

Washington's 3rd Congressional District, located in the southwestern corner of the state, was one of 13 districts nationwide that voted for President Trump in 2024 while also electing a Democrat to the House. The University of Virginia's Center for Politics rates the race as leans Democratic, while the Cook Political Report rates it as a tossup.