Why Portland voters are seeing ads for a Washington race
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo illustration: Axios Visuals; Photos: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images and Nathan Howard/Getty Images
Portlanders will be just as inundated with advertisements and campaign messaging for Washington's 3rd Congressional District race as our neighbors across the Columbia.
Why it matters: Despite being in an entirely different state, WA-03 — which encompasses the southernmost portion of Western Washington, including Clark County — is located in the broader Portland metro area's media market.
- So it's common for residents "to hear campaign ads over TV or radio for districts they are not in," Ben Gaskins, a political scientist and professor at Lewis and Clark College, told Axios.
What they're saying: "In such a nationalized political environment, getting positive word out in the broader area may be helpful to generate word of mouth in case friends [and] family discuss politics across the river," he added.
The big picture: For Democrats, defending Washington's 3rd Congressional District is crucial as they seek to flip control of the U.S. House, where Republicans hold a slim majority.
- Democrats would need a net gain of four seats to take control of the 435-member chamber.
Zoom in: First-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is defending her seat against Joe Kent, a Republican who she narrowly defeated two years ago.
- Before Gluesenkamp Perez's upset victory in 2022, the district in southwest Washington had been in Republican hands for 12 years.
State of play: The nonpartisan Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball, a publication of the University of Virginia, list the race as one of only a handful of toss-up House contests nationwide, as well as Oregon's 5th Congressional District.
Zoom in: Immigration has become a flashpoint in the race, with Kent — who is endorsed by former President Trump — supporting mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and ending birthright citizenship.
- He's accused Gluesenkamp Perez of being too lax about border security.
- For her part, Gluesenkamp Perez has run local ads promising to "secure the border" and voting last month for a GOP-sponsored bill that would make it easier to deport immigrants convicted of sex crimes.
Between the lines: Gluesenkamp Perez's campaign has highlighted Kent's past comments denying the 2020 election results, as well as his opposition to abortion, as evidence he's "too extreme."
- Kent in turn has increased his focus this year on the economy, attacking Gluesenkamp Perez for supporting policies he says have contributed to inflation.
The bottom line: While Portlanders will not have a say in this particular race, it will take place across our airwaves and in our mailboxes.