Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
American politician (born 1988)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kristina Marie Gluesenkamp Perez[1][a] (née Perez; born June 4, 1988) is an American politician serving as the United States representative for Washington's 3rd congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she is a co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition. Gluesenkamp Perez was first elected to Congress in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Joe Kent in an upset, and was re-elected in 2024 in a rematch. She is seeking a third term in the 2026 election, in which she faces Republican John Braun, the minority leader of the Washington State Senate.
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez | |
|---|---|
Official portrait, 2023 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 3rd district | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Jaime Herrera Beutler |
| Co-Chair of the Blue Dog Coalition for Administration | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Jared Golden |
| Co-Chair of the Blue Dog Coalition for Communications | |
| In office May 24, 2023 – January 3, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Jared Golden (Administration and Communications) |
| Succeeded by | Vicente Gonzalez |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Kristina Marie Pérez June 4, 1988 Harris County, Texas, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse |
Dean Gluesenkamp (m. 2016) |
| Children | 1 |
| Education | Warren Wilson College (attended) Reed College (BA) |
| Website | House website Campaign website |
Gluesenkamp Perez co-owned an auto repair shop with her husband before her election to Congress. In the House, she has been described as one of the most centrist Democrats in the chamber, breaking with her party on several issues. A member of the House Committee on Appropriations since 2025, Gluesenkamp Perez co-led the reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools program, which was signed into law in December 2025. She has also emphasized her role in supporting federal right to repair legislation and securing federal funding to replace the aging Interstate Bridge among other issues.
Early life and education
Kristina Marie Perez was born on June 4, 1988, in Harris County, Texas.[2] Her father immigrated from Mexico,[3] while her mother's family has roots in Washington.[4] Her maternal side includes a long line of loggers,[4] as well as a great-great-grandfather who worked as a quarry foreman in the state.[5] Her grandfather was a carpenter in Bellingham.[4]
Her parents met at Western Washington University and then moved to Texas. Her father was a pastor at an evangelical church, and her mother home-schooled the children during their early years. She was the youngest of four and was raised in Houston.[4]
After high school, Perez initially attended Warren Wilson College and then transferred to Reed College in Portland, Oregon.[4] She worked in a cafe and in production work to pay for tuition.[4] She graduated from college in 2012 with a degree in economics.[2][4]
Early career
Perez met her future husband, Dean Gluesenkamp, in her senior year while managing the Reed Bike Co-op,[6] where she worked as a bicycle mechanic.[7] At the time, he was a mobile car mechanic.[8] After she finished college, they opened an automobile repair shop[7] and moved to rural Skamania County in Washington, where they built their own home.[4]
Gluesenkamp Perez began her political career in 2016, when she ran for Skamania County commissioner but was unsuccessful,[9] receiving 32.8% of the vote in the primary and 46.3% in the general election.[10] She supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries.[11]
She ran again for office in 2018 for Skamania County Public Utility District commissioner but was again unsuccessful.[12] That year, Gluesenkamp Perez began serving on the Underwood Conservation District board.[13] From 2020 to 2022, she served on the Washington State Democratic Party executive committee.[14][15]
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2022
In 2022, Gluesenkamp Perez ran for the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Washington's 3rd congressional district. She advanced from Washington's nonpartisan blanket primary in which candidates from all parties are listed on the same primary ballot, and the top two finishers, regardless of party, move on to the general election.[14] Gluesenkamp Perez finished first in the primary with 31% of the vote, while Republican Joe Kent came in second, narrowly defeating the incumbent, Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, by 0.5%. Another Republican, Heidi St. John, finished fourth with 16.0%, and the second Democratic candidate, Davy Ray, garnered 2.2%. Before the primary, Brent Hennrich, a Democrat who had led in two early polls, withdrew from the race and endorsed Gluesenkamp Perez.[16]
The general election's rating varied from "Lean R", according to The Cook Political Report, to "Solid R" in FiveThirtyEight's House of Representatives forecast.[17][18] FiveThirtyEight estimated that Gluesenkamp Perez had a 2% chance of winning the general election over Kent, and was expected to receive 43.6% of the popular vote. She led in one of two polls and was trailing in the other; both were within the margin of error.[19] Her subsequent narrow victory received widespread national attention, with The Seattle Times calling it "the most stunning political upset in the country this year",[3] and "a microcosm of the midterms".[20][21] Kent conceded on December 21, following a recount.[22][23]
2024
In 2024, Gluesenkamp Perez defeated Kent in a rematch, winning with 51.7 percent of the vote to Kent's 47.9 percent.[24][25]
2026
Gluesenkamp Perez is running for a third term in the 2026 election. In the August 4 top-two primary, she and Republican John Braun, the minority leader of the Washington State Senate, advanced from a nine-candidate field to the general election, with each receiving about 39 percent of the vote.[26][27]
Braun was endorsed by President Donald Trump in April 2026.[28] The general election is expected to be among the most competitive House races of the cycle. The Cook Political Report rates the contest as a toss-up, while the University of Virginia Center for Politics rates it "leans Democratic."[27]
Tenure
Gluesenkamp Perez has been described as one of the most centrist Democrats in the House, and has frequently broken with the majority of her party on high-profile votes.[26][28] She helped lead the House effort to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools program, which funds schools and other services in timber-dependent counties and had lapsed at the end of 2023, contributing to school closures and layoffs in her district.[29][30] After she sent repeated letters urging House leadership to take up the Senate-passed bill, the House voted 399-5 in December 2025 to reauthorize the program through fiscal year 2026 and to provide retroactive payments for fiscal years 2024 and 2025.[31][32] President Donald Trump signed the reauthorization into law on December 18, 2025.[29][32]
Following the May 2026 chemical tank collapse at the Nippon Dynawave paper mill in Longview, which killed 11 workers and was the deadliest industrial accident in Washington state history, Gluesenkamp Perez called on the mill's owners to provide a written guarantee that employees would continue receiving pay and benefits during the investigation.[33][34]
Committee assignments
- Current
- Past
- Committee on Agriculture (118th Congress)
- Committee on Small Business (118th Congress)
Caucus memberships
Political positions
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Gluesenkamp Perez campaigned as a moderate Democrat, supporting both abortion rights and Second Amendment rights. She emphasized her focus on small businesses, job training, local issues such as the timber industry, and expressed opposition to political extremism.[3][45] Following her election, she has taken a role as a co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition and has joined the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. Her record has been criticized by pro-choice activists and student debt activists.[40]
Economics
Gluesenkamp Perez blames inflation on companies outsourcing jobs, and states that is the top issue affecting voters in her district.[46] She has called for both increased usage of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the short term and a long-term increase in the number of jobs available in green industries.[47]
Gluesenkamp Perez voted against a student debt relief plan proposed by the White House in 2023. She was one of only two House Democrats to do so, along with Jared Golden of Maine.[48] At the time, she said that "expansions of student debt forgiveness need to be matched dollar-for-dollar with investments in career [and] technical education. I can't support the first without the other. The severe shortage of trades workers needs to be seen [and] treated as a national priority."[49][50]
Gluesenkamp Perez has emphasized her role in securing $2.1 billion in federal funding to rebuild the Interstate Bridge, which carries Interstate 5 across the Columbia River.[51][52] Citing the economic losses experienced in her district from landslides, she co-sponsored the renewal of the National Landslide Preparedness Act in 2024.[53]
Foreign policy
In February 2024, Gluesenkamp Perez co-sponsored the Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act, which proposed $66.32 billion in defense-only funding, including approximately $47.7 billion for Ukraine, as well as funding for Israel and Taiwan.[54]
In October 2024, when asked about concerns of excessive U.S. military support to Israel in the Gaza war or its misuse, she stated that "[one] must ground this conversation in the fact that October 7th was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust[,]" concluding that this should contribute towards persuading Hamas to release its hostages, that "Israel has the right to defend itself, [... that, in terms of U.S. national security,] as [far as the kind of] liberal democracy [it is], it's [...] especially [crucial] in a region where women’s and LGBTQ rights are under constant threat[,]" and that this support was representative of supporting Israel at all, thus creating a vacuum to be filled by U.S. foreign adversaries by withdrawing it. She expressed no interest in using military support as leverage to affect Israeli military policy, saying that the US's financial support to Israel constituted "less than 10% of their GDP".[55]
Government reform
Gluesenkamp Perez holds the belief that there should be cognitive standards for serving in Congress. In her view, this would help combat distrust of elected officials among younger voters, while simultaneously ensuring that all members are fit to carry out their duty of voting on behalf of their constituent. She attempted to introduce a bill that would have the Office of Congressional Conduct develop a standard that the Ethics Committee could use to evaluate complaints lodged against lawmakers accused of suffering from cognitive impairment. While the bill was unanimously shut down, she has voiced that she is not yet willing to drop the issue.[56]
Congressional stock trading
Gluesenkamp Perez supports stronger restrictions on stock trading by members of Congress. In January 2023, she joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers in introducing the TRUST in Congress Act, which would require members of Congress and their families to place certain investment assets into a blind trust during their tenure.[57] She worked with Rep. Zach Nunn to proposed legislation that would ban Congressional stock trading in 2025.[58] In July 2026, she was one of 13 Democrats who voted for a Republican-led bill barring members of Congress and their families from purchasing individual stocks while in office.[59]
Voting rights and electoral reform
Gluesenkamp Perez believes that vote by mail is safe and has refuted unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud among mail-in ballots.[46] In July 2024, she was one of only five out of 198 Democrats who voted with the Republican majority to pass the SAVE Act (H.R.8281, Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act), which would require those registering to vote to provide documentary proof of United States citizenship.[60] Again on April 10th, 2025, Gluesenkamp Perez was one of only four Democrats who joined all of the Republicans in the House in voting in favor of the SAVE Act on its second time through the House of Representatives.[61]
In 2024, Gluesenkamp Perez, along with Jared Golden, proposed a bipartisan committee to consider electoral reforms, such as multi-member districts with proportional representation, increasing the number of members in the House of Representatives and establishing independent redistricting commissions.[62]
Gun control
Gluesenkamp Perez opposes a ban on assault weapons but supports raising the age required to purchase an assault weapon from 18 to 21.[63][46]
Health
Gluesenkamp Perez supports abortion access, citing her personal experience having a dilation and curettage procedure after a miscarriage.[46][64][65] KGW described her support for abortion rights as "a tenet of her campaign".[46]
Military and veterans
In July 2023, Gluesenkamp Perez voted to pass the annual National Defense Authorization Act that included provisions to bar Pentagon spending for abortion and transgender surgeries.[66] She defended her vote by saying the Senate would "clean up" the bill.[51] In early 2024, Gluesenkamp Perez introduced the Rural Veterans Transportation to Care Act that would expand transportation to veterans attempting to access medical care. In July, after a letter she had sent earlier received no response, she hand delivered a petition to the head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) requesting the reopening of a VA clinic in Lewis County. The prior clinic was closed in 2021 and replaced with a limited mobile care unit, requiring approximately 3,000 veterans in the county to travel out of the area to Olympia, Washington.[67]
Immigration
Gluesenkamp Perez supports the reinstatement of Title 42 expulsions and the Remain in Mexico policy to curtail illegal immigration.[68] In July 2024, she cast one of five Democratic votes to condemn the Biden administration's handling of the Mexico-United States border.[69]
In January 2025, Gluesenkamp Perez was one of 48 Democrats to vote for the Laken Riley Act, which requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain illegal immigrants charged with theft.[70] She later became one of 46 House Democrats who joined all Republicans to vote for a Senate-amended version of the bill.[71]
On January 22, 2026, she was one of seven Democrats who voted to pass HR 7147 funding bill for the United States Department of Homeland Security, including funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).[72] The vote came amid Democratic criticism of ICE operations in Minneapolis following the shooting death of Renée Good and later exacerbated by the death of Alex Pretti in January 2026. Gluesenkamp Perez defended her vote, citing the bill's importance for the Coast Guard and FEMA in her district, stating that she "could not in good conscience vote to shut it down."[73] She criticized both "overly aggressive tactics" by federal law enforcement and "indiscriminate, overly aggressive slogans like 'Defund ICE'" from her own party.[74]
Following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent on January 24, Gluesenkamp Perez called for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to step down, describing the shooting as "un-American."[75]
LGBT rights
In 2026, Gluesenkamp Perez was one of eight Democrats to join Republicans in passing the Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act, which mandated that transgender youth be outed to their parents by school professionals, and which would bar schools from teaching about any concept related to transgender topics.[76][77][78]
Technology
In May 2023, Gluesenkamp Perez helped introduce the REPAIR Act and the SMART Act, two bipartisan right-to-repair bills that seek to require auto manufacturers to share parts, tools, and data needed for repairs at lower costs.[79]
Right-to-repair was a focal point of Gluesenkamp Perez's campaign, with many of her campaign ads featuring Gluesenkamp Perez inside her auto repair shop discussing the issue. The auto repair shop she runs was a point of contention for Republican adversaries who criticized Gluesenkamp Perez for owning and operating a business outside of the district and state in which she was campaigning.[80] Dean's Car Care, the auto repair shop she co-owns, is located in Portland, Oregon, across the Columbia River and state lines from her district.[81]
In January 2026, Gluesenkamp Perez was one of four Democrats who voted to block funding for federally driven "kill switch" vehicle technology, which could monitor drivers and intervene in vehicle operation.[82]
Other
In 2025, Gluesenkamp Perez was among 10 Democrats who joined House Republicans in voting to censure Al Green for disrupting the 2025 Donald Trump speech to a joint session of Congress.[83] In September 2026, she voted for a resolution which denounced socialism and the Democratic Socialists of America, and called for the passage of the SAVE America Act.[84]
Personal life
Gluesenkamp Perez lives near Stevenson, Washington, in Skamania County.[14] She is married to Dean Gluesenkamp, and has one child.[85] They also have a dog named Uma Furman.[86] She is a nondenominational Christian.[87][51]
Before joining Congress, she and her husband co-owned Dean's Car Care, an auto repair shop in Portland, Oregon.[7] Her husband, the company's namesake, now manages it while she serves in Washington, D.C.[88][49]
Gluesenkamp Perez was featured on The New York Times Style Magazine list of the 93 Most Stylish People of 2022.[89][90]
Electoral history
2022
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Marie Gluesenkamp Perez | 68,190 | 31.0 | |
| Republican | Joe Kent | 50,097 | 22.8 | |
| Republican | Jaime Herrera Beutler (incumbent) | 49,001 | 22.3 | |
| Republican | Heidi St. John | 35,219 | 16.0 | |
| Republican | Vicki Kraft | 7,033 | 3.2 | |
| Democratic | Davy Ray | 4,870 | 2.2 | |
| Independent | Chris Byrd | 3,817 | 1.7 | |
| Republican | Leslie French | 1,100 | 0.5 | |
| American Solidarity | Oliver Black | 456 | 0.2 | |
| Total votes | 219,783 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Marie Gluesenkamp Perez | 160,323 | 50.41 | |
| Republican | Joe Kent | 157,690 | 49.59 | |
| Total votes | 318,013 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratic gain from Republican | ||||
2024
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (incumbent) | 97,274 | 45.9 | |
| Republican | Joe Kent | 83,389 | 39.3 | |
| Republican | Leslie Lewallen | 25,868 | 12.2 | |
| Independent | John Saulie-Rohman | 5,406 | 2.5 | |
| Write-in | 186 | 0.1 | ||
| Total votes | 212,123 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (incumbent) | 215,177 | 51.7 | |
| Republican | Joe Kent | 199,054 | 47.9 | |
| Write-in | 1,673 | 0.4 | ||
| Total votes | 415,904 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratic hold | ||||
2026
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | John Braun | 85,064 | 39.7 | |
| Democratic | Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (incumbent) | 78,025 | 36.4 | |
| Democratic | Brent Hennrich | 35,820 | 16.7 | |
| Republican | John P. Roco | 4,102 | 1.9 | |
| Republican | John Saulie-Rohman | 3,549 | 1.7 | |
| Republican | Lawrence Kellogg | 2,727 | 1.3 | |
| Democratic | Troy Rasband | 2,058 | 1.0 | |
| Democratic | Austin Braswell | 1,656 | 0.8 | |
| Cascade | Antony Barran | 1,345 | 0.6 | |
| Write-in | 145 | 0.1 | ||
| Total votes | 214,491 | 100.0 | ||
See also
Notes
- Pronounced /ˈɡluːzənkæmp/
