Fundraising gulf widens between Perez, challengers

Published 7:02 pm Monday, April 15, 2024

U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s fundraising advantage grew only wider in the opening months of 2024 over the two notable Republicans attempting to supplant the incumbent from her seat in Congress this fall, according to campaign filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission this week.

Perez, the first-term Skamania Democrat representing Washington’s Third Congressional District, reported raising $1.16 million in the first three months of 2024 according to a quarterly filing from her campaign. The $3.03 million that the Perez campaign had in its coffers at the end of March dwarfed that of her two most prominent challengers, Joe Kent and Leslie Lewallen, in what is expected to be one of the most closely watched races in the country come November.

The congresswoman’s campaign received almost $930,000 in contributions from individuals between January 1 and March 31, and just over $140,000 from political committees and PACs. The campaign also received a nearly $80,000 transfer from several joint fundraising committees between her and other campaigns, including $35,000 from the Marie Gluesenkamp Perez Victory Fund and $20,000 from Democracy Summer 2024, a joint fundraising committee for 30 Democratic congressional campaigns.

Kent, a Republican from Yacolt and Perez’s opponent in the 2022 general election who has been endorsed by the Washington State Republican Party and Pacific County Republican Party, reported raising nearly $430,000 between his campaign and Joe Kent Victory Fund, one of his joint fundraising committees. About $8,600 was raised directly by the campaign with the remaining $421,000 coming from the victory fund.

However, just $225,000 of that total raised by Kent’s victory fund was transferred to his campaign committee, with much of the remainder going toward campaign expenses and other recipients of the joint fundraising committee — his leadership PAC, Keep Electing New Talent, and the Washington State Republican Party. Overall, Kent’s campaign ended March with just over $630,000 on hand.

Lewallen, an attorney and Camas City Councilor who has been endorsed by ex-statewide Republican officeholders like former Attorney General Rob McKenna and former Secretary of State Sam Reed, reported raising about $193,000 for her campaign. That total included transfers of about $42,000 from GOP Winning Women 2024, a joint fundraising committee for Lewallen and 14 other Republican women running for Congress.

Overall, Lewallen’s campaign ended the first quarter of the year with just shy of $220,000 on hand.

The race for the seat representing Southwest Washington in Congress is sure to see even more money raised — and spent — in the coming months, especially with a closely divided U.S. House of Representatives where just one seat could plausibly decide control of the chamber. Won by Perez by less than 1% over Kent in 2022, national Republicans have targeted the seat as a prime pick-up opportunity this go-round, while Democrats have pledged to defend it after winning it back for the first time in a dozen years.