(The Center Square) – It’s been two days since the general election and the race for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District is still too close to call.
U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., is the incumbent House representative in the district. She is currently leading Republican challenger Joe Kent by approximately 12,000 votes. A little over 80% of ballots have been counted so far.
With 100,000 to 120,000 ballots left to be counted, the race remains close. Kent called on his supporters to ensure that their ballots have been accepted.
“It’s still too early to call and there’s a lot of ballots out there to collect,” Kent said in a social media post.
The district covers multiple counties in southwest Washington. The state’s fourth largest city, Vancouver, lies within the district. Notably, the city saw national attention after a suspect committed arson on a ballot box, damaging 488 mail-in ballots.
Gluesenkamp Perez’s priorities include providing more federal funding to boost police officer and firefighter pay to improve retention, bringing down the cost of housing, higher wages for workers, tax rebates for energy efficiency upgrades, and increasing U.S. border security.
Kent is a Green Beret veteran and former foreign policy advisor to President-elect Donald Trump. According to his campaign website, his run for the House seat is focused on “restoring common sense Republican values and defeating the woke extremist Democrat Congresswoman Marie Perez.”
The challenger’s top issues include inflation caused by the Biden administration’s overspending, cracking down on illegal immigration, and halting aid to Ukraine.
Kent narrowly lost to the incumbent in the 2022 general election, with a difference of approximately 2,600 votes.
The closeness of the race, the ballot fire, and ballot harvesting may lead to ballot curing. This is a process that help voters fix their mailed-in ballots if they do make a mistake.
Voters can check and ensure their ballots have been received and counted through the Washington Secretary of State’s website.
