VICTORY

Dem Beats MAGA Candidate to Flip House Seat in Washington

Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, an auto shop owner, campaigned on abortion rights.

Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez scored a stunning upset victory in Washington state on Saturday, beating Donald Trump-endorsed Republican Joe Kent for a House seat in a district that was long dominated by the GOP, according to the Associated Press. Kent, who has spoken out publicly in support of accused Jan. 6 rioters and denied that the 2020 presidential election was legitimate, had defeated Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler in a primary after Beutler became one of only two GOPers in the state to vote in favor of impeaching Trump. But Gluesenkamp Perez, an auto shop owner and the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, won the House seat in a district that Trump had won two years earlier. Gluesenkamp Perez had campaigned heavily on abortion rights. “We won. I am humbled, honored, and grateful,” she wrote in a statement on Facebook late Saturday. “I pledge to work every day to live up to the responsibility placed in me. I will defend our rights. I will protect our democracy. And I will deliver the help working and middle class families need.”