Washington Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez won reelection to a second term Tuesday, denying Republicans a key seat they hoped to flip to expand their narrow majority. 

Ms. Gluesenkamp Pérez’s victory in Washington’s 3rd District comes in the form of a rematch against Republican Joe Kent, who served as a foreign policy advisor to former President Donald Trump after time in the Special Forces and as a CIA field operative. 

Republicans hoped that former Mr. Trump’s presence on the ballot this year would help carry Mr. Kent to victory in the southwestern Washington district, which the former president carried in 2020 by 4 points. 

Ms. Gluesenkamp Pérez, who co-chairs a group of centrist House Democrats known as the Blue Dog Coalition, eked out her 2022 win against Mr. Kent by less than a percentage point, but she was on track to exceed that margin this year when The Associated Press called the race with her leading by 4 points.  

The 3rd District includes Vancouver and other communities along the Columbia River that serves as Washington’s border with Oregon, as well as more rural areas to the north.

Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez, who ran well ahead of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, told The New York Times that she refused to let her race become nationalized.

“It’s not about the message. It’s about my loyalty to my community,” she said. “The messenger is the message in a lot of ways. My awareness of my community has been durable, and it’s reflective in my vote record. That is a huge asset.”

Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez accused some Democratic elected officials of being too “calloused” and disrespecting ordinary people. She told a story about meeting Ms. Harris at her Naval Observatory Christmas party and commenting on the plastic decorations, telling the vice president that farmers in her district grow Christmas trees. 

“She just walked away from me. There was kind of an eye roll, maybe,” the Washington Democrat said. “My thinking was, it does matter to people where I live. It’s the respect, the cultural regard for farmers. I didn’t feel like she understood what I was trying to say.”

Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez said fixing the Democratic Party will “take parents of young kids, people in rural communities, people in the trades running for office and being taken seriously.”

• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.