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Washington Third Congressional District U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, called out yet another dramatic campaign filing incident on the floor of the United States House of Representatives last week.
Gluesenkamp Perez took to the floor to condemn U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, for calling off his reelection campaign for Senate just minutes before a filing deadline and minutes after an ally, the state's top federal prosecutor, Kurt Alme, had registered to run for the seat. Daines went on to publicly endorse Alme shortly after the deadline.
The congresswoman also appeared on CNN in an interview with Jake Tapper on Thursday to talk about the issue and her now-continued opposition to similar situations of federal lawmakers attempting to select their political successors.
In a post to the social media platform X on Wednesday, she used some adult language and referred to the act as “rigging an election.”
In her CNN interview, she referred to the act as “profoundly disrespectful to the American people,” stating it “destroys the institution.” She further condemned the act in a Facebook post Thursday evening.
“I don't care what your politics are, if you’re willing to f around like this to steal an election you don’t deserve power,” the post reads.
Gluesenkamp Perez called out a member of Congress and fellow Democrat in November of last year for a similar issue.
At the time, Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia had just announced he was calling off his congressional reelection campaign after the filing deadline and after he had already advised his chief of staff to register to run for the spot in his place.
The well-established incumbent was running without opposition from his own party and was able to secure his chief of staff, Patty Gargcia, a spot as the sole Democrat on the ballot for the 2026 race for the Fourth Congressional District of Illinois.
Gluesenkamp Perez led efforts in the House to sanction Garcia after the incident in November, but she seemed less hopeful during her appearance on CNN that the Senate would take similar steps to hold the Republican senator responsible.
“This ugliness and this stealing elections is why people have walked away from politics,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in the interview with Tapper. “Apparently, the Senate has not reprimanded one of its own members since the 1990s when I was 2, so we’ll see what happens.”
A total of 213 Republicans and 23 Democrats joined the congresswoman to sanction Garcia in her efforts to reprimand him late last year.
