Washington Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez deflected voter criticism during a town hall event in Vancouver on April 24, 2025.
Erik Neumann / OPB
The Luepke Community Center near downtown Vancouver was at capacity Thursday night, with attendees spilling out around the building. Gluesenkamp Perez was repeatedly interrupted by the crowd as she tried to defend her vote to censure fellow Democratic Rep. Al Green following his vocal protest at President Trump’s speech to Congress in March. Town hall attendees also made calls for the congresswoman to explain how she plans to protect due process for immigrants who face deportation.
Rather than give audience members a microphone, Gluesenkamp Perez took only prewritten questions. One asked why she’s not doing more to stand up for federal workers who are losing their jobs.
“There is a really profound demand in our country for an efficient government,” Gluesenkamp Perez began, before being interrupted with heckles that she was a “traitor.”
Just a few months ago, Democrats praised Gluesenkamp Perez for winning Washington’s formerly Republican 3rd Congressional District. Some called her the future of the Democratic Party as she bucked a national trend of liberals losing ground in the election cycle. Now, she’s trying to maintain support in Clark County’s largest city.
Earlier this month, Gluesenkamp Perez was one of just four Democrats to vote for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility or SAVE Act. It would require proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration. Critics say the bill could make it harder for some Americans to vote.
“Any idea that I am standing to disenfranchise people is patently false,” she said to the booing crowd.
Constituents of Rep. Marie Gluensekamp Perez criticized the congresswoman over a number of her votes and called for her to stand up to President Trump during a town hall on April 25, 2025.
Erik Neumann / OPB
Constituents began leaving midway through the town hall, walking past the stage.
The moderate Democrat has always had to walk a fine line in her purple district. It went for Donald Trump in November, but she held the seat after flipping it in 2022.
Thursday’s visit was Gluesenkamp Perez’s 15th town hall, she said, and at least her second in Clark County since being reelected. But that was before Trump’s blitz of executive orders, sweeping tariffs and a deportation campaign to mark his first 100 days in office.
In her closing, Gluesenkamp Perez repeated her familiar call for unity over partisan politics.
“Figuring out how do we make our agenda relevant to a bigger community, to a broader team? That is how you change the face of our democracy,” she said.
The answer seemed as distant as ever.
