Washington state Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, put rumors to bed on Tuesday morning, Aug. 13, as he officially announced plans to become the next representative for Washington’s Third Congressional District.
In an interview with The Chronicle Editorial Board on Thursday, July 18, ahead of what was expected to be his original announcement date the following Wednesday, Braun pitched himself as a return to conservative values who better represents the moderately conservative district.
The announcement brings the active Lewis County politician and tested state legislator into a race that for the last two cycles has been dominated by a repeat competition between incumbent Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, and current director of the U.S. Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent, who was twice endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Gluesenkamp Perez’s initial victory over Kent in 2022 by less than a percentage point, or roughly 3,000 votes, was considered by many to be a huge upset in the traditionally red district that has voted for Trump in every presidential election since 2016 and supported Republican Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler for more than a decade.
The seat is high on the National Republican Party’s list of districts they will need to flip in the 2026 mid-term elections in order to maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives and guard president Trump from an ineffectual second half to his second term as president.
Braun sees himself as a different candidate from those who have run for the district's congressional seat in the past, believing that his reputation in the state as a “common sense” legislator will win him more wide support than Kent has earned in the past. He called Kent a “patriot” and said he would not be critical of his previous pursuits for the office.
“I think I’ve established myself in the 20th District, in Southwest Washington, as a practical common sense legislator that will govern according to the conservative principals that are important in this district,” Braun told The Chronicle. “I’m also committed to getting things done.”
Braun currently serves as a Washington state senator for the 20th Legislative District representing Lewis County and parts of Thurston, Cowlitz and Clark counties. He has held the seat since first being elected in 2012. He also serves as the Senate Republican Leader, a position he has held since 2020.
The ‘why’
Braun has been a fixture in Washington state politics for many years, so much so that some might ask the question — why now? Braun said he has considered running for federal office in the past, but that a mix of support from his family, community and from the national GOP has motivated him to finally throw his hat in the ring.
“I’ve thought about it, but this year I was pretty serious, and a lot of folks in the community, as I talk to folks around the community, have been very supportive,” Braun said. “The national folks have been very supportive, and my wife and I talked about this for a very long time, and I just decided this is the right move for our community and for Southwest Washington.”
Braun sees himself as a return to the conservative values of the Southwest Washington congressional district after what will be four years of representation by a Democrat. While he applauded Gluesenkamp Perez’s efforts at bipartisan policy, calling them genuine, he argues that she has failed to deliver on conservative priorities in a meaningful way.
“I just don't think we’re getting the type of representation from the incumbent that we deserve,” Braun said. “Not just here in our local community, but broadly around the Third Congressional District. It’s a Republican district. A moderate Republican district, but it's a Republican district, and that's not what we’re getting from Marie Gluesenkamp Perez … She kind of gets an A on the press release but not as good on actually focusing on the issues people care about.”
Priorities
While Braun recognizes the difference of serving at the federal level from serving at the state level, his priorities remain largely the same, he said. As a state legislator, especially during the most recent legislative session, Braun has stuck to fiscally conservative values, recently decrying a record state tax increase and calling for more financial accountability. He shows interest in doing the same at the federal level, calling for affordability and a balanced budget.
“I have a lot of experience building a big state budget, and I hope to have an impact on an even bigger federal budget that brings our spending in line with our revenues long term,” Braun said. “So we don't leave mountains of debt for our children and grandchildren.”
Concerning affordability, Braun hopes to tackle the issue from multiple sides, looking at tax burdens, rising energy demand and local costs for public safety.
“How do we make Washington more affordable?” Braun asked. “That could be a tax issue. It could be things that address energy availability and therefore cost. It could be a whole range of things. It's public safety, and some of that is local, some of that is state and some of that is federal.”
Other priority issues for the Centralian include immigration, national security and education. Braun said he hopes to take advantage of his 31 years in the U.S. Navy, including seven years of active duty, to inform his policies and pursuits on national security and defense.
He also hopes to aid progress and improvements to Washington state education while recognizing that the federal government generally has a small role in dictating local education policy.
Experience
Going into a congressional campaign, Braun brings with him 13 years of state government experience as well as experience running a family business and serving on many at-will advisory boards in the Centralia and Chehalis area.
Braun is president of his family-owned business Braun Northwest, which was founded in 1986. The business is known for building emergency vehicles. Before going into the family business, Braun served active duty in the U.S. Navy and continued to serve in the U.S. Navy Reserves until officially retiring from more than 30 years of service in 2021.
Braun holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Washington State University as well as master’s degrees in business administration and manufacturing engineering from the University of Michigan.
He also currently serves on the Providence Centralia Hospital Community Board and the Centralia College Foundation Board.
In his role as a state senator, Braun not only serves as the senate minority leader, guiding his fellow Republicans, but he also serves as a ranking member on the Senate Rules Committee and sits on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee as well as other joint committees.
Competition
While Braun is a hotly awaited and highly competitive candidate for the race, he is relatively late to the party and becomes the third Washingtonian to announce their intention to run for the Third Congressional District spot.
Brent Hennrich, a Vancouver-based Democrat, declared his candidacy for the seat in the beginning of May. Hennrich originally planned to run in the 2022 race but pulled out of the race to support Gluesenkamp Perez’s candidacy.
In his announcement, he called out Gluesenkamp Perez for failing to deliver on Democratic issues.
Antony Baron, a Republican from Willapa Bay, has also announced his candidacy. The coastal Washingtonian is a career business man who has not yet served in political office. On his campaign website, he describes himself as an entrepreneur, father and citizen candidate separating himself from career politicians. Gluesenkamp Perez took a similar approach in her 2022 race.
The candidates will also, of course, face off against the incumbent Gluesenkamp Perez, who just recently won reelection to her seat in 2024. In 2026, the incumbent will look to defend her seat that could prove a serious asset to either political party after the 2026 midterms as Republicans look to defend their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and Democrats look to take power for themselves.
Response
The campaign for Gluesenkamp Perez has been quiet so far as newcomer candidates have filed to challenge her. However, the candidacy announcement from Braun quickly drew campaign officials’ attention.
Roughly an hour after Braun’s announcement, both the Gluesenkamp Perez campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released scathing statements highlighting Braun’s supposed connections to corporate donors and his career as a politician while painting Gluesenkamp Perez as a political outsider and advocate for average residents of Southwest Washington.
“Braun has taken huge campaign contributions from Big Pharma and major corporations while voting to harm families and small businesses,” Campaign Manager Tom Gowen wrote.
“It’s no surprise that the D.C. swamp has recruited him to run for Congress … In Congress, Marie has taken on tough fights to boost Washington’s timber economy, expand shop class, and limit government overreach so we can fix our own stuff and build the life we want. Marie is exactly the outsider we need in Congress. She’s someone who fights to make D.C. respect and listen to us, not talk down to us.”
Both statements refer to Braun as a newly recruited creature for the ”swamp,” a term first coined by President Trump ahead of his first term in office to refer to Washington, D.C., and paint the picture of a corrupt bureaucracy and politicians answering to special interests.
“John Braun has proven time and again that he's out for himself and his donor friends,” reads the statement from DCCC spokesperson Lindsay Reilly. “Voters know Braun is nothing more than a suit in Olympia who works for special interests like Big Pharma, not for working people. He’s a swamp creature who will be more of the same in D.C., championing the status quo that’s left too many Southwest Washington families behind."
