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February 28, 2023 Political Note #543 Marie Gluesenkamp Perez Washington 03
2024 General Election
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
Twenty months seems like a long way off. Nevertheless, start making donations to Congressional candidates now. Begin with incumbents. Democrats cannot retake the House if they cannot keep the seats they already have. (Make an exception. Donate to Adam Frisch, Colorado 03 – Len’s Political Note #532 — and help defeat Lauren Boebert.)
We have already looked at
Gabe Vasquez NM 02 (Len’s Political Note #536) a 1,350 vote winner. (D+4)
Yadira Caraveo CO 08 (Len’s Political Note #537) a 1,632 vote winner (R+3)
Jahana Hayes CT 05 (Len’s Political Note #542) a 2,004 vote winner. (D+3)
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez WA 03 is the Democrats most vulnerable 2022 winner. She won by 2,633 votes – but look at the first round results in the Washington non-partisan primary:
- Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D) 31%
- Joe Kent (R ) 8%
- Inc Jamie Herrera Beuttler (R ) 3%
- Heidi St. John (R ) 16%
- Vicki Craft (R ) 2%
- Davy Ray (D) 2%
- Chris Bird (I) 7%
- Leslie French (R ) 2%
- Oliver Black (Am Solid) 1%
Add it up. Republicans received 64.5% of the vote. Democrats received 33.2%. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez won the election because Joe Kent edged out the incumbent Jamie Herrera Beuttler for second place in the non-partisan primary.
Jamie Herrera Beuttler was one of the ten Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump after the January 6 insurrection. First elected in 2008, she was a member of the relatively moderate Main Street Caucus and the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. She was the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch – governing the budget for the Congress itself. Her vote for the impeachment of President Donald Trump after the January 6 insurrection got her a serious Republican opponent in the primary.
Jaime Herrera Beuttler explained her vote: She said there was indisputable evidence that Trump had violated his oath of office. Trump continued to push legislators to oppose certifying the election, incited the storming of the capitol, and refused to do anything “meaningful” to stop the violent attack. Joe Kent was the serious opponent. A former member of the Green Berets with some assignments for the CIA, he left the military after his wife, a Navy cryptologist, was killed in a 2019 suicide bombing. She was at a market in a city held by the Free Syrian Forces during the Syrian Civil War.
Employed by a mysterious company that Joe Kent would not name accurately, he became a member of the advisory board for Military Veterans for Trump, expressed concerns about conspiracies ranging from support for Covid-19 vaccinations to the 2020 election. Described as “movie star handsome,” Joe Kent would have been a great political candidate if it were not for his political views and his belief in conspiracies. He suggested that the January insurrection was orchestrated by the FBI. He would charge Anthony Fauci with murder. He would ban immigration to the United States for 20 years. He would impeach Joe Biden for failing to secure the southern border. His differences with Nick Fuentes (who we know as a racist and anti-Semite) were, he said, about tactics. He expressed these opinions and more on frequent appearances on conservative news outlets.
When she began her campaign, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s likelihood of winning was miniscule according to the website 538. Her father was an immigrant from Mexico. Her mother’s great grandfather was the quarry foreman for the stone used to construct the Washington state capitol. Her grandmother was born in a logging camp. Her parents met at Western Washington University. She met Dean Gluesenkamp while she was studying at Reed College. There, she made a little bit of money as a bike mechanic. He ran a mobile mechanic business working from a Vanagon (VW’s replacement for its “bus.”). His work was reminiscent of traveling knife sharpeners.
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez was different from the upper middle class radicals at Reed. She knew she was interested in politics so she joined both the Young Democrats and the Young Republicans. She became a Democrat because they were more welcoming to gays and her brother had come out.
Later, married, with a child, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and her husband lived in an old school bus while they built their house “nail by nail” as she reported in campaign appearances. In 2016, she ran for county commissioner. She caucused with those supporting Bernie Sanders. Not a Democratic socialist, she is otherwise a perfect Bernie supporter. A social liberal, a fervent opponent of the Hobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade, she is also a gun owner. Owning guns was no anomaly. Bernie has not been an activist against gun ownership – a position that resonated for him in rural Vermont.
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez has a personal and a political interest in small businesses. In addition to building a house, Marie and Dean built a business – an automobile garage. They fixed cars and trucks. None of the articles about their lives suggests it, but it would be a shame if they did not also fix bicycles. What the articles do mention is the couple’s constant consciousness of how tough it is to create a small business and to live on what is earned from it. Instead of day care, for instance, they brought their child to work.
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez made it through the first found of voting with very little money. She and four underpaid staff members were the campaign. Her 31% was the highest total as almost all the Democrats voted for her. Of the five Republicans in the race, two were well funded. Had the incumbent Jaime Herrera Beuttler gotten a few more votes and come in second. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez would be working in the garage now.
Joe Kent received 1,096 more votes than Jaime Herrera Beuttler. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez got herself a new champion. Hedge fund manager David Nierenberg, described by the New York Times as a man who considers Mitt Romney as his best friend and as probably Jaime Herrera’s biggest fund raiser got in touch. He joined the Marie Bluesenkamp Perez campaign. He told the New York Times “I have never been involved with such a joyous and ecstatic and enthusiastic fund-raising effort as I’m seeing here.” He described the difference between the two candidates. “Marie is likable, approachable, moderate, well spoken, and then we have a flame-throwing extremist on the other side.”
Victorious in November, her comments were consistent with her campaign. “We are moderate and we are people that work for a living. We are people that pay our taxes and want good schools and want a functioning society. We are tired of politicking and we are tired of extremists, and we just want to know that our kids are going to have a same or better shot at a good life as we did. I am not an ideologue. I am not a show pony. I am here to work, and I live like the district does.”
If Marie Gluesenkamp Perez can sustain a focus on local issues, be visible about working on improving the economy of rural communities, and avoid the big national fights, she has a chance to get reelected and to be a Democratic leader worth emulating.
We should be particularly conscious of the rural Democrats whose integrity and commitment to the people of their district gets them reelected, promises a very big Democratic Party tent, and ensures an eventual big Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. Jared Golden in ME 02 keeps winning in a district that leans Republican by 10 points. Tom O’Halleran, unfortunately, could not get reelected in AZ 02 when redistricting gave him a 15 point Republican lean. As a contrast, redistricting offered Hillary Scholten a 3 point Democratic lean for MI 03. That was enough for her 13 point victory. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez squeaked through in a district with an 11 point Republican lean. If she is going to have a chance to stay in Congress, she’ll need help now. Donate some money. Give her a chance to win in 2024.
Election and Primary Results
Wisconsin Primaries; Special Elections Scheduled for April 4. Donate to achieve important Democratic wins.
Wisconsin Supreme Court
Liberal-leaning County Judge Janet Protasiewicz was the highest vote getter on February 21 in the non-partisan primary for a seat on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court. She received 46% of the vote. Criticized for indicating how she was likely to vote on issues like women’s reproductive rights and redistricting, the voters appeared to be glad to have the information. Former Supreme Court member Daniel Kelly, who lost his seat in the 2020 election, was the second highest vote getter with 24% of the vote. Though less explicit, a conservative activist, Kelly left no doubt about where he would vote on controversial social and cultural issues.
Currently, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court has 3 members whose lean can be identified as progressive, 2 members whose lean can be identified as conservative, and one member who usually votes with the conservatives. A victory for Janet Protasiewicz on April 4 would likely transform the Wisconsin political landscape. People who spend more money on elections than most of the readers of this newsletter will spend a lot of money on this campaign. Smaller donors count. Support Janet Protasiewicz. For more inforation, see Len’s Political Note #528.
Wisconsin State Senate District 08
Environmental attorney Jodi Habush Sinykin was the only serious Democratic candidate in the February 21 primary. The Republicans had a choice of three. They chose State Rep Dan Knodl. In the primary, he defeated a Trump acolyte so extreme and so problematic for House Speaker Robin Vos that Wisconsin Republicans banned her from their caucus. Knodl emphasizes reducing spending, cutting taxes, and public safety. He would be a reliable conservative vote against abortion and on other cultural issues. Wisconsin Republicans are talking about their ability, with a two-thirds supermajority in each body of the legislature, to impeach and remove any state official. The Republicans in the state House of Representatives are two seats away from gaining a two-thirds supermajority. Jodi Habush Sinykin’s election would flip a Republican seat and prevent the State Senate from having a two-thirds supermajority. See Len’s Political Note #529 for more information about Jodi Habush Sinykin.
Other Primary Results
Virginia Fourth Congressional District Special Election
On February 21, Democratic State Senator and former Gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McClellan defeated socially conservative Republican Pastor Leon Benjamin 74-26. A child of a domestic worker and a former corporate lawyer, she is the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress.
New Hampshire House of Representatives Special Election
After a tie in the general election last November, on February 21, Incumbent Chuck Grassie defeated former Rochester Mayor in the election for House District 8 in Rochester’s Fourth Ward by a 56-44 margin. This was an election between two friendly neighbors which, nevertheless, had serious political implications. If we include one Democratic seat that is now vacant, the Republicans have the narrowest possible margin in the New Hampshire House of Representatives – 201 seats to 199.
Kentucky State Senate Special Election
Democratic Attorney and Louisville Metro Councilor Cassie Chambers Armstrong exceeded Joe Biden’s margin in this district by double digits, defeating former Board of Education candidate Misty Glin and was elected District 19 State Senator by a 77-23 vote. This was not projected to be a close race, but Armstrong is a Democrat to watch if an opportunity for a Democrat arises in Kentucky.
