The two most powerful Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives were in Southwest Washington Thursday morning, the latest sign of the party’s keen interest in unseating incumbent Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and flipping the Third District red in the upcoming election.
“We’ve got them exactly where we want them,” Republican Congressional Candidate Joe Kent said. “We’re going to close the deal here in, I think, about 12 days. I can’t thank you guys enough. I can’t thank the speaker and his team enough for coming out here and supporting us.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, quietly hosted a breakfast fundraiser for Kent without making a public appearance, though Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, campaigned with Kent for the second time this election cycle, touting his experience and resume.
Approximately 200 supporters rallied outside Kent headquarters in Ridgefield, where Johnson said he has “so many things for Joe Kent to do in Congress, I can’t wait for him to get there.”
“He has no idea how busy he’s going to be,” Johnson said.
Johnson first visited the district for a fundraiser in Vancouver in August, shortly after Kent advanced out of the August primary. Now, less than two weeks before the general election, Johnson expressed confidence that the Republican Party would complete an electoral sweep and win the House, Senate and the White House.
“You want to know why that is?” Johnson said. “Because everybody around the country, it doesn’t matter if they’re on the East Coast, the West Coast, the north, south, it’s all the same — everybody is fed up and fired up. Because they know the cost of living is unsustainable, that the rising crime rates are the fault of the woke progressives who are destroying all of our once-great American cities. They’re so upset about the wide open border and what that’s doing to us all around the country.”
The visit by Johnson comes as he makes a campaign swing through the West Coast. On Monday, Johnson held a private event with Fourth Congressional District Rep. Dan Newhouse before traveling to Arizona to stump for candidates Wednesday. According to Johnson, he’s held events in 238 cities in 40 states ahead of the election.
“We’re going to keep going. You know why? Because it’s worth it,” Johnson said. “And everywhere we go around the country, and I go to the blue states, the swing districts, the tossup districts where Republicans aren’t expected to do well. And guess what? We are doing well.”
Kent, who lost by fewer than 3,000 votes in 2022, is making his second bid at representing the district. If the Republicans hope to maintain, or potentially expand, their majority this November, his success will be key.
“This is so, so important to us,” Johnson said. “This district, I am not overstating how important it is.”
The party currently holds 220 seats in the House of Representatives compared to the 212 held by Democrats, with 218 needed to maintain a majority.
A former Green Beret, Kent enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1998, later training to join the special forces, before completing 11 deployments overseas. His bid for Congress, Johnson said, is “providential.”
“I believe that he’s being called to Congress for this moment, for this time,” Johnson said. “His experience set, his life experience, his acumen, is going to help us save America. I’m not exaggerating.”
During a media scrum following the event, Johnson said he “has some ideas” on potential committee assignments and floated the possibility of his assignment to the agriculture or natural resources committees.
“His life experiences lend themselves greatly to things like armed services, maybe the intelligence committee,” Johnson said. “Because somebody who's done that, been around the world, been deployed like that, brings a whole different level of insight to the table than a regular rank and file member of Congress, to be frank. So he’s got a lot, he can do a lot of things. He’s a renaissance man. We can probably put him on every committee.”
The turnout Thursday exceeded the capacity of Kent’s headquarters, prompting organizers to relocate Johnson’s remarks outside. The crowd, state GOP chair and 19th District Rep. Jim Walsh said, “shows the groundswell” of support.
Walsh noted that Kent recently appeared at an event with several Republicans he’s faced in prior elections, including former Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler.
“This is a unified front to get this guy into Congress,” Walsh said. “And I think that’s going to make a huge difference over two years ago.”
