U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is visiting Pacific County this week.

Despite the GOP comedy playing out in Congress, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez eventually will be sworn in as Southwest Washington’s 15th congressional representative.

And a little-noticed press release issued Dec. 22 shows that the campaign for her re-election already had begun.

In the release, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell announced that the U.S. Forest Service will give up 23 acres of former tree nursery land to Skamania County. It was significant for the rural, tax-poor Columbia Gorge county, because so much of the lands owned by the U.S. Forest Service and not subject to property taxes.

Its political message, though, was revelatory: Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, credited Gluesenkamp Perez for supporting the land effort — even though the Skamania Democrat had not yet taken office.

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Gluesenkamp Perez shows every sign of intending to work on bread-and-butter district needs, the method that made 3rd District successes out of Herrera Beutler and two Democratic predecessors — Don Bonker (1975-89) and Brian Baird (1999-2011).

And the press release was jointly put out by Cantwell and former Republican Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, who sponsored the legislation and whom Gluesenkamp Perez is replacing as 3rd District representative.

The political significance is easy to see: To be re-elected in 2024, Gluesenkamp Perez must retain the support of moderate Herrera Beutler Republicans. Their support was crucial in Gluesenkamp Perez’s upset, 2,629-vote November election win over Trump-backed Republican Joe Kent. Her margin of victory was just 0.55 percent of the vote.

The press release is a sign that Cantwell will credit and boost Gluesenkamp Perez as the new congresswoman faces what likely will be a ferocious re-election challenge in 2024. It’s also likely an intriguing signal from Herrera Beutler — who declined to endorse Kent after he ousted her in the August primary — that she won’t endorse him or any other Republican extremist in two years.

Republicans will be gunning for Gluesenkamp Perez from the very start of her two-year term. The challenge is formidable, but there’s reason to think that she can hold the seat.

Kent already has informally announced he will run again in 2024. The GOP, which now controls the House by a tiny majority, is likely to throw tons of money and grassroots effort into the 2024 campaign to reclaim the seat, which Herrera Beutler held for 12 years.

The 3rd District has become solidly Republican over the last decade. The midterm election results in other races generally confirmed that tilt. Kent lost only because he alienated moderate Republicans by spouting the political stench of Donald Trump, excusing the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, meeting with racist extremists and promising obstruction and division.

Gluesenkamp Perez, though, is well suited for this conservative-leaning district. She is philosophically in tune with the center. She supports gun and abortion rights; the need for job training and medical reform; and helping small businesses and the timber industry. In fact, Democrats would be smart to use her as a model to appeal to rural voters, who have abandoned the party in favor of the GOP over the last couple of decades.

Gluesenkamp Perez shows every sign of intending to work on bread-and-butter district needs, the method that made 3rd District successes out of Herrera Beutler and two Democratic predecessors — Don Bonker (1975-89) and Brian Baird (1999-2011).

As freshman in the minority party, Gluesenkamp Perez will find it hard to successfully sponsor legislation, and it remains to be seen whether she will be appointed to key committees such as transportation and natural resources. She’ll need to have help from Sens. Cantwell and Washington’s other Senate heavyweight — Democrat Patty Murray — to move her initiatives forward and win plaudits.

Gluesenkamp Perez must cheerlead in her district for the infrastructure and other projects approved in the last Congress. If she networks well, she won’t need a long list of successful legislation to be a successful representative.

She also needs to excel at constituent services — helping voters in the district solve personal problems with federal agencies. Herrera Beutler earned a well-deserved reputation in this regard. That attention always helped her at the ballot box.

Finally, Gluesenkamp Perez must show her face around the economically and politically diverse 3rd District. Rep. Baird was justifiably proud to say he had visited every public school in the district during his dozen years as Southwest Washington’s congressional representative. In contrast, Herrera Beutler made limited, carefully choreographed appearances here.

Woody Allen said “80 percent of success is showing up.” To win in ’24, Gluesenkamp Perez must take that advice to heart.