Washington's 3rd Congressional District election, 2024

	2026 → ← 2022
Washington's 3rd Congressional District
	Top-two primary; General election
Election details
	Filing deadline: May 10, 2024
	Primary: August 6, 2024; General: November 5, 2024
How to vote
	Poll times: Poll opening hours vary; close at 8 p.m.; Voting in Washington
Race ratings
	Cook Political Report: Toss-up; DDHQ and The Hill: Lean Republican; Inside Elections: Toss-up; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
	U.S. Senate battlegrounds; U.S. House battlegrounds; Federal and state primary competitiveness; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2024
See also
	Washington's 3rd Congressional District; U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th; Washington elections, 2024; U.S. Congress elections, 2024; U.S. Senate elections, 2024; U.S. House elections, 2024; Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

Washington 2024 elections

U.S. Senate • U.S. House • Governor • Lt. Gov • Attorney General • Secretary of State • State executive offices • State Senate • State House • Supreme court • Appellate courts • State ballot measures • Local ballot measures • Municipal • All other local • How to run for office

Incumbent Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez (D) defeated Joe Kent (R) in the general election for Washington's 3rd Congressional District on November 5, 2024.

Axios Seattle's Melissa Santos wrote before the election, "The toss-up race in Washington's 3rd Congressional District is one of this year's most competitive U.S. House races, central to Democrats' and Republicans' battle for control of the chamber."^[1] Gluesenkamp Pérez was one of eight Democrats who represent districts that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2020.

The race was a rematch of the 2022 contest between Gluesenkamp Pérez and Kent. Former U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R) represented the district from 2011 until 2023. She placed third in the top-two primary in 2022 and did not advance to the general election. Herrera Beutler was one of ten Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. Gluesenkamp Pérez defeated Kent 50.1%-49.3% in the 2022 general election, changing party control of the district. This was the ninth-closest margin of victory in the 2022 U.S. House races.

Before her election to Congress, Gluesenkamp Pérez ran an automotive repair business with her husband.^[2] Kent was a retired Green Beret, former CIA field operative, and former foreign policy advisor to Trump.^[3]

Gluesenkamp Pérez co-chaired the Blue Dog Coalition, a caucus of moderate House Democrats who often voted with Republicans.^[4]^[5] The New York Times's Annie Karni wrote that Gluesenkamp Pérez's "social circle consists mostly of two Republican Bible study groups."^[6] Gluesenkamp Pérez told Politico in an interview, "There was sort of this idea that I was this undercover AOC," referring to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D). "Working class. Latina. Underdog. So that was sort of the only things they were really seeing."^[7] On policy, however, Gluesenkamp Pérez said she and Ocasio-Cortez have "come to very different conclusions."^[7]

Gluesenkamp Pérez voted against President Joe Biden's (D) student loan forgiveness plan and voted to lift Biden's pause on weapon shipments to Israel.^[8] Her priorities included Right to Repair legislation to help consumers repair their own items, border security, and "fighting for reproductive freedom."^[9]

The Washington State Standard's Jerry Cornfield said Kent campaigned differently in 2024, focusing on the economy, immigration, and crime rather than on abortion and the validity of the 2020 election results.^[10] Kent said he spoke with local leaders and activists, studied other Republicans who won a rematch, and discovered three ways his campaign could improve.^[11] He said these changes included a stronger push for early voting, reaching a broader voting base, and "giving more attention to local issues ... like the need for a new I-5 bridge, returning control of natural resources to local leaders, and addressing the fentanyl epidemic."^[11]

Kent said Gluesenkamp Pérez was not a moderate Democrat, and Gluesenkamp Pérez said Kent was no different than in 2022.^[4]^[12] Kent's campaign website stated, "Marie Glusenkamp-Perez ... votes in line with the Biden administration’s radical agenda to increase inflation, weaken our national defense, and open our borders."^[13] Gluesenkamp Pérez wrote, "The only thing different about Joe Kent in 2024 is the color of his yard signs. ... Oh, and Trump hasn’t endorsed him this time."^[12]

As of October 30, 2024, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales, and Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball each rated the general election Toss-up and Decision Desk HQ and The Hill rated it Lean Republican.

Gluesenkamp Pérez raised and spent $11.8 million, and Kent raised and spent $2.7 million. To review all the campaign finance figures in full detail, click here.

Washington's 3rd Congressional District was one of 37 congressional districts with a Democratic incumbent or an open seat that the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) targeted in 2024. To read about NRCC targeting initiatives, click here. For a complete list of NRCC targeted districts, click here.

This was one of 13 districts won by Donald Trump (R) in the 2024 presidential election and by a Democratic candidate in the U.S. House election. To read more, click here.

For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

Washington's 3rd Congressional District election, 2024 (August 6 top-two primary)

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House Washington District 3

Incumbent Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez defeated Joe Kent in the general election for U.S. House Washington District 3 on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez (D)	51.7	215,177
	Joe Kent (R)	47.9	199,054
	Other/Write-in votes	0.4	1,673

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 415,904
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House Washington District 3

Incumbent Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez and Joe Kent defeated Leslie Lewallen and John Saulie-Rohman in the primary for U.S. House Washington District 3 on August 6, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez (D)	45.9	97,274
✔	Joe Kent (R)	39.3	83,389
	Leslie Lewallen (R)	12.2	25,868
	John Saulie-Rohman (Independent Party)	2.5	5,406
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	186

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 212,123
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Voting information

See also: Voting in Washington

Election information in Washington: Nov. 5, 2024, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

In-person: Nov. 5, 2024
By mail: Received by Oct. 28, 2024
Online: Oct. 28, 2024

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

Yes

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

In-person: N/A
By mail: N/A by N/A
Online: N/A

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

In-person: Nov. 5, 2024
By mail: Postmarked by Nov. 5, 2024

Was early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What were the early voting start and end dates?

Oct. 18, 2024 to Nov. 5, 2024

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When were polls open on Election Day?

Varies - 8:00 p.m. (PST)

Candidate comparison

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: Yes

Political Office:

U.S. House Washington District 3 (Assumed office: 2023)

Biography: Gluesenkamp Pérez earned a bachelor’s degree from Reed College. Before entering elected office, she ran an automotive repair shop with her husband.

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Gluesenkamp Pérez said, “I ran for Congress to get a right-to-repair bill passed.” Her campaign website stated, “She is working to stop manufacturers of farm and consumer equipment from gouging their customers by forcing them to pay the original manufacturer for repairs.”

Gluesenkamp Pérez said she supported doing “whatever it takes to secure the border and keep southwest Washington safe.” Her campaign website said she would “always fight to make sure state and local law enforcement agencies have the resources they need to keep Fentanyl and illegal guns off of our streets.”

Gluesenkamp Pérez’s campaign website stated, “Marie will do whatever it takes to prevent a national abortion ban, which would override the will of the people of Washington State.”

Show sources

Sources: The Chronicle, “Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez on world conflicts and hopelessness at home,” January 29, 2024; Gluesenkamp Pérez 2024 campaign website, “Issues,” accessed August 30, 2024; Facebook, “Gluesenkamp Pérez on June 24, 2024,” accessed August 30, 2024; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, “PEREZ, Marie Gluesenkamp,” accessed August 30, 2024

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Washington District 3 in 2024.

Joe Kent

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Biography: Kent is a retired Green Beret, former CIA field operative, and former foreign policy advisor to Donald Trump. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Norwich University.

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Kent called the economy “the biggest issue as it pretty much affects everybody” and said he would “oppose the endless deficits and big government spending that’s driving this record inflation.”

On immigration, Kent said, “I believe that we must prioritize securing our border ahead of providing foreign aid to other nations and fighting in foreign wars.”

On education, Kent said, “I’ll defend parental rights and expand access to school choice so that federal dollars follow the students and not the education bureaucracy. … I’ll require that our public schools defend girls’ sports and spaces from biological men.”

Show sources

Sources: Washington State Standard, “Joe Kent is campaigning differently. Will it make a difference?,” June 6, 2024; Facebook, “Kent on August 2, 2024,” accessed August 30, 2024; The Chronicle, “Joe Kent focuses on immigration, war during town hall,” June 5, 2024; X, “Kent on June 5, 2023,” accessed August 30, 2024; YouTube, “Joe Kent: Big Disagreements,” September 26, 2023; Linkedin, “Joe Kent,” accessed August 30, 2024; Kent 2024 campaign website, “Meet Joe Kent,” accessed August 30, 2024

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Washington District 3 in 2024.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign ads

This section includes a selection of up to three campaign advertisements per candidate released in this race, as well as links to candidates' YouTube, Vimeo, and/or Facebook video pages. If you are aware of other links that should be included, please email us.

Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez

View more ads here:

Joe Kent

View more ads here:

Election competitiveness

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

Polls are conducted with a variety of methodologies and have margins of error or credibility intervals.^[14] The Pew Research Center wrote, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times."^[15] For tips on reading polls from FiveThirtyEight, click here. For tips from Pew, click here.

The links below show polls for this race aggregated by FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, where available. Click here to read about FiveThirtyEight's criteria for including polls in its aggregation.

FiveThirtyEight

Race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.^[16]
Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.^[17]^[18]^[19]

Race ratings: Washington's 3rd Congressional District election, 2024
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 5, 2024	October 29, 2024	October 22, 2024	October 15, 2024
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Lean Republican	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Election spending

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez	Democratic Party	$11,856,002	$11,895,854	$26,460	As of December 31, 2024
Joe Kent	Republican Party	$2,654,420	$2,708,358	$-1,032	As of December 31, 2024
Leslie Lewallen	Republican Party	$840,313	$840,313	$0	As of December 31, 2024
John Saulie-Rohman	Independent Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. * Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.^[20]^[21]^[22]

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

By candidate	By election
Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez Joe Kent	OpenSecrets Federal Election Commission

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

District map

Competitiveness
Presidential elections

State party control

Below was the map in use at the time of the election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Washington.

Washington U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024
Office	Districts/ offices	Seats	Open seats	Candidates	Possible primaries	Contested top-two primaries	% of contested primaries	Incumbents in contested primaries	% of incumbents in contested primaries
2024	10	10	2	62	10	10	100.0%	8	100.0%
2022	10	10	0	68	10	10	100.0%	10	100.0%
2020	10	10	1	73	10	10	100.0%	9	100.0%
2018	10	10	1	49	10	8	80.0%	7	77.8%
2016	10	10	1	56	10	10	100.0%	9	100.0%
2014	10	10	1	49	10	10	100.0%	9	100.0%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Washington in 2024. Information below was calculated on June 4, 2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Sixty-two candidates ran for Washington’s 10 U.S. House districts, including 26 Democrats, 25 Republicans, three Independents, and eight non-major party candidates. That’s an average of 6.2 candidates per district. That’s lower than the 6.8 candidates per district in 2022 and the 7.3 in 2020.

The 5th and 6th Congressional Districts were open in 2024, meaning no incumbents ran for re-election. That’s the most open districts in an election cycle this decade.

Incumbent Reps. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-05) and Derek Kilmer (D-06) did not run for re-election because they retired from public office.

Eleven candidates—five Democrats and six Republicans—ran for the open 5th Congressional District, the most candidates who ran for a seat in Washington in 2024.

All 10 primaries were contested in 2024. Between 2022 and 2014, an average of 9.6 primaries were contested per year.

Eight incumbents—seven Democrats and one Republican—were in contested primaries in 2024. Between 2022 and 2014, an average of 8.8 incumbents were in contested primaries per year.

No districts were guaranteed to either party because Democratic and Republican candidates filed to run in all 10 districts. Washington utilizes a top-two primary system. In a top-two primary system, all candidates are listed on the same ballot. The top two vote-getters, regardless of their partisan affiliations, advance to the general election.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+5. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 5 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Washington's 3rd the 194th most Republican district nationally.^[23]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

2020 presidential results in Washington's 3rd based on 2024 district lines
Joe Biden	Donald Trump
46.6%	50.8%

Inside Elections Baselines

See also: Inside Elections

Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.^[24] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.

Inside Elections Baseline for 2024
Democratic Baseline	Republican Baseline	Difference
45.6	53.7	D+8.1

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Washington, 2020

Washington presidential election results (1900-2020)

17 Democratic wins
13 Republican wins
1 other win

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020
Winning Party	R	R	R	P^[25]	D	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	D	D	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D

See also: Party control of Washington state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Washington's congressional delegation as of May 2024.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Washington
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	2	8	10
Republican	0	2	2
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	10	12

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Washington's top four state executive offices as of May 2024.

State executive officials in Washington, May 2024
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Jay Inslee
Lieutenant Governor	Denny Heck
Secretary of State	Steve Hobbs
Attorney General	Bob Ferguson

State legislature

Washington State Senate

Party		As of NFebruary 2024
	Democratic Party	29
	Republican Party	20
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		49

Washington House of Representatives

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	58
	Republican Party	40
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		98

Trifecta control

The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until the 2024 election.

Washington Party Control: 1992-2024
Eighteen years of Democratic trifectas • No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
Governor	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
Senate	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R^[26]	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
House	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	S	S	S	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D

Election context

Ballot access requirements

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Washington in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Washington, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
Washington	U.S. House	Ballot-qualified candidates	1,740^[27]	$1,740.00	5/10/2024	Source
Washington	U.S. House	Unaffiliated candidates	1,000	N/A	8/2/2024	Source

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2018.