Republican John Braun on Tuesday snagged President Donald Trump’s endorsement in his bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in southwest Washington, a race that could help decide which party controls the U.S. House.
Trump, in a midday Truth Social post, lauded Braun’s advocacy for lower taxes and border security and blasted Gluesenkamp Perez as “a true Radical Left Extremist with a Track Record that REEKS.”
FILE — Washington state Senate minority leader, John Braun, speaks at a press conference during the 2025 legislative session.
Ryan Berry for the / Washington State Standard
“John Braun has my Complete and Total Endorsement,” the president wrote. “HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”
Braun, who is state Senate minority leader, also hauled in endorsements from U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise on Tuesday, cementing himself as the GOP torchbearer in the high-stakes contest.
It is the backing of the president that may do most to shore up Braun’s standing among conservatives in the 3rd Congressional District, some of whom consider him too moderate.
They were particularly angry in 2024 when the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, under Braun’s guidance, recruited and backed candidates in legislative races that were not on board with the MAGA agenda.
Braun seemed to pivot rightward last July — around the time of his entry into the congressional race — with an energetic defense of Trump’s signature policy for tax cuts and spending reforms.
He thanked the president on Tuesday.
“I’m excited to work with you and our Republican majority in Congress to keep our border secure and our communities safe, and to make life affordable for all,” he said in a statement.
Gluesenkamp Perez, who has shown a willingness to cross up her party leaders and crossover to vote with the GOP majority on some matters, said Braun will be “beholden” to the president.
“Donald Trump’s endorsement post is full of lies about my record. Anyone who knows this district knows I’ve fought to represent this community’s independent voice in DC,” she said in a statement.
“John Braun needed this endorsement. And he’ll be beholden to it. But voters in Southwest Washington deserve a representative who answers to them and won’t just do what they’re told by a national political machine,” she said.
FILE — Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez speaks with residents of Vista Del Rio manufactured home park on Oct. 22, 2025.
Erik Neumann / OPB
Another close battle
The 3rd Congressional District encompasses Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Pacific, Wahkiakum, and Skamania counties and a small part of Thurston County.
Trump has won the district in all three of his presidential runs. But Republicans, who held the House seat there throughout his first term, lost it in 2022.
That’s when Gluesenkamp Perez, co-owner of an auto repair and machine shop, edged out right-wing Republican Joe Kent, a former Army Special Forces soldier who Trump backed.
Kent lost a rematch with the congresswoman in 2024 but landed in the Trump administration as the president’s top counterterrorism official. Kent quit last month, citing opposition to the war in Iran.
Now, as Braun, a Centralia resident in his fourth term as a state senator, looks to mend fences with conservatives, he’s hoping his legislative experience and electoral know-how will win back independent and moderate GOP voters who shunned Kent.
Braun, 58, was elected to the state Senate in 2012 in the 20th Legislative District that covers most of Lewis and Cowlitz counties, the northern tip of Clark County and a southern section of Thurston County.
He ran unopposed in 2024 and does not need to give up his seat in the Legislature to run for Congress.
Outside politics, he is president of Braun Northwest, a family-owned company specializing in building emergency vehicles at a facility in Chehalis. The Braun family lives on a small farm in rural Lewis County, outside Centralia.
This contest will be expensive.
Gluesenkamp Perez raised just over $3.2 million and had $2.4 million on hand at the end of 2025, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Braun, meanwhile, raised just under $840,000 and had $703,747 on hand as of Dec. 31.
Antony Barran, a Republican running on the Cascade Party ticket, and Democrat Brent Hennrich, each reported less than $10,000 in cash on hand to start 2026.
Fundraising totals for the first quarter of this year will be posted Wednesday on the Federal Election Commission website.
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