Marie Gluesenkamp Perez

Kristina Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (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.

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. Her father immigrated from Mexico, Her grandfather was a carpenter in Bellingham. She worked in a cafe and in production work to pay for tuition. where she worked as a bicycle mechanic. After she finished college, they opened an automobile repair shop receiving 32.8% of the vote in the primary and 46.3% in the general election. She supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

She ran again for office in 2018 for Skamania County Public Utility District commissioner but was again unsuccessful. That year, Gluesenkamp Perez began serving on the Underwood Conservation District board. From 2020 to 2022, she served on the Washington State Democratic Party executive committee.

U.S. House of Representatives Elections 2022

Gluesenkamp Perez outside the United States Capitol before her Congressional inauguration (2023)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.

The general election's rating varied from "Lean R", according to The Cook Political Report, to "Solid R" in FiveThirtyEights House of Representatives forecast. 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. Her subsequent narrow victory received widespread national attention, with The Seattle Times calling it "the most stunning political upset in the country this year", and "a microcosm of the midterms". Kent conceded on December 21, following a recount.

2024

In 2024, Gluesenkamp Perez defeated Kent in a rematch, winning with 51.7 percent of the vote to Kent's 47.9 percent.

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.

Braun was endorsed by President Donald Trump in April 2026. 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." 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. President Donald Trump signed the reauthorization into law on December 18, 2025.

Committee assignments Current Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government Past Committee on Agriculture (118th Congress) Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development Subcommittee on Forestry Committee on Small Business (118th Congress) Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Regulations Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Supply Chains (Ranking Member)

Caucus memberships Blue Dog Coalition (co-chair) Congressional Equality Caucus Problem Solvers Caucus Congressional Hispanic Caucus Congressional Ukraine Caucus

Political positions

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. 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.

Abortion Gluesenkamp Perez supports abortion access, citing her personal experience having a dilation and curettage procedure after a miscarriage. KGW described her support for abortion rights as "a tenet of her campaign". She worked with Rep. Zach Nunn to proposed legislation that would ban Congressional stock trading in 2025. 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.

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.

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".

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. In July 2024, she cast one of five Democratic votes to condemn the Biden administration's handling of the United States border.

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. She later became one of 46 House Democrats who joined all Republicans to vote for a Senate-amended version of the bill.

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). 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." She criticized both "overly aggressive tactics" by federal law enforcement and "indiscriminate, overly aggressive slogans like 'Defund ICE'" from her own party.

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."

Inflation Gluesenkamp Perez blames inflation on companies outsourcing jobs, and states that is the top issue affecting voters in her district.

Infrastructure

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. Citing the economic losses experienced in her district from landslides, she co-sponsored the renewal of the National Landslide Preparedness Act in 2024.

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.

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. She defended her vote by saying the Senate would "clean up" the bill.

Right-to-repair

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.

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. 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.

Student debt 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. 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."

Surveillance 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.

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. 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.

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.

Congressional membership 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.

Personal life

Gluesenkamp Perez lives near Stevenson, Washington, in Skamania County. They also have a dog named Uma Furman. She is a nondenominational Christian. Her husband, the company's namesake, now manages it while she serves in Washington, D.C.

Electoral history 2022

2024

2026