The final stops on the “Freedom To Fix $#*% RV Tour” found Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez campaigning through northern Lewis County and southern Thurston County this week as the congresswoman vies to retain her seat in the House of Representatives.
As she gears up for reelection, The Chronicle attended events in Tenino and Centralia to talk to the congresswoman and hear her pitch to voters ahead of the general election.
During an event with approximately a dozen supporters at the Quarry House in Tenino Thursday, Gluesenkamp Perez repeatedly touted her work to reduce regulatory red tape and a desire to represent Southwest Washington in the nation’s capital.
“Being a member of Congress was not on my bingo card. Like, I did not think that I’d be in this role,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “But, I think there was a lot of us who felt really sick of D.C. values, D.C. priorities inflecting themselves and supplanting our values, and our priorities.”
In her stump speech, Gluesenkamp Perez touted her ability to work across the aisle to pass legislation and repeatedly praised work in the trades as a viable career option for the nation’s youth.
“There’s nothing more toxic than telling a child that what they’re good at isn’t good enough, or what they’re interested in isn’t interesting,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
A member of the House Agriculture Committee, Gluesenkamp Perez fielded several questions about the Farm Bill, wide-ranging legislation that governs federal agricultural and food program policy.
In May, Gluesenkamp Perez voted against moving the legislation out of committee, saying in a statement that the proposal would “slash programs” aimed at aiding farmers navigate extreme weather conditions and rising costs.
“I think I might have been the only person that opposed the farm bill and still got the endorsement of my state’s farm bureau,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “They were taking these programs that we rely on to actually grow food, and they were turning them into party favors for cotton and peanut producers in the southeast because that’s where the chairs are from.”
In Congress, Gluesenkamp Perez has repeatedly sought to distance herself from national Democrats. Hours after President Joe Biden signed a foreign aid package worth $95 billion in April, Gluesenkamp Perez called on the president to take additional action to protect the Southern border, a plea she repeated when Biden visited Seattle for a series of election fundraisers in May.
Following a shaky debate performance in June, Gluesenkamp Perez said the “crisis of confidence in the president’s leadership needs to come to an end” and that she doubted Biden’s “judgment about his health.”
The independence from party pressure, Gluesenkamp Perez said, is “so important” to her.
“My reputation at the gas station and the grocery store and daycare drop off is what matters to me,” she said in an interview. “Not my reputation in a D.C. cocktail bar. I will work with whoever I need to when their values and interests align with the values and interests of my community.”
On the campaign trail, Gluesenkamp Perez has declined to say who she voted for in the presidential election, though she told a reporter from The Washington Standard she did not vote for former President Donald Trump.
The independence earned the praise of an audience member at a meet and greet at The Station in Centralia Friday morning, who told Gluesenkamp Perez, “Who you vote for is not going to affect me.”
“But you being a Democrat in Congress could make the difference between Speaker Jeffries or Speaker (Mike) Johnson,” the audience member said, referring to House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York.
Democrats currently hold 212 seats in the House, short of the 218 needed for a majority, meaning the party will need to retain as many seats as possible, including the Third District, and flip several other districts in order to control the speaker’s gavel.
“I think that when we look at how partisan and divided our country is, a big reason in that is because there’s been such a focus on this top down,” Gluesenkamp Perez. “The local community is what really matters. That is how we get our country back together.”
On Thursday, Johnson visited the headquarters of Republican challenger Joe Kent in Ridgefield, the second such visit he’s made to the district.
Hours after the visit, Gluesenkamp Perez told The Chronicle she’s not in Congress “because she’s beholden to party bosses.”
“My campaign, my work in Congress is oriented around my pride, and loyalty, to place, not bringing in ringers from D.C.,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
Gluesenkamp Perez has avoided appearing next to high-profile surrogates on the campaign trail, instead hosting more intimate events throughout the district. Her tour this week included 23 events in 20 towns across the district.
In an interview with The Chronicle, Gluesenkamp Perez said, “It’s not productive to substitute our values and our priorities with those from somewhere else.”
“I’m less interested in having someone else talk for me, or stand for me, or stand for our community,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “I want to do that work.”
