Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) knocked off Washington state Senate Minority Leader John Braun to secure her third term in Congress.
Gluesenkamp led with 55% of the vote when the Associated Press called the race at 1:04 p.m. on Wednesday. Braun lagged behind the Washington Democrat at 44% for a seat President Donald Trump won by over 3 percentage points in 2024.
Gluesenkamp Perez has maintained a reputation as one of the most centrist members of the House Democratic Caucus. She has joined Republicans in voting for a handful of measures, including some efforts to get the SAVE America Act, the GOP’s voter ID bill, across the finish line.
Gluesenkamp Perez’s win comes as she has been a thorn in the side of Democratic leadership after she sided with Republicans on two party-line votes before the election. Democratic leadership weighed punishing Gluesenkamp Perez for her defection, but she was saved by the extended recess ahead of the election. It remains unknown if Gluesenkamp Perez will be punished when the House returns after the election.
2026 MIDTERM ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST NEWS, RESULTS, AND ANALYSIS
The Washington Democrat received 50.1% of the vote in the 2022 general election and nearly 52% in 2024, twice defeating Joe Kent, who briefly served in the Trump administration as director of the National Counterterrorism Center before his resignation in the wake of the Iran war.
Though Trump won the seat by about 3 points in 2024, the southwest Washington district was one of the few places that trended left during the presidential election.