VANCOUVER, Wash. — In additional results posted Wednesday night, Democratic Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez kept her slim lead of about 12,000 votes over Republican Joe Kent in Washington's 3rd Congressional District.
As of Wednesday afternoon, election officials estimated that some 100,000 ballots remained uncounted in the 3rd District, including at least 70,000 in Clark County alone and another 20,000 in Cowlitz County. Not all of those outstanding ballots were processed by the evening's results drop.
Cowlitz County Auditor Carolyn Fundingsland reported a similar phenomenon at her office that happened at the Clark County Elections office Tuesday evening — long lines of people showing up for last-minute registration and in-person voting.
READ MORE: Clark County Elections office has line of voters out the door well after ballot boxes close
The latest results Wednesday night showed about 28,000 additional ballots counted, but the gap between Gluesenkamp Perez and Kent remained almost exactly the same. Still, many thousands of ballots remain to be counted.
Most of the additional ballots added around 6 p.m. Wednesday evening were from Clark County. More results were expected to come in from Cowlitz County closer to 9 p.m., where Kent has historically found more favor.
After Tuesday night's initial results, Democrats were optimistic that results would hold.
"Building a community has been such a gift over these past couple of years and I really hope we'll be able to continue doing that work," Gluesenkamp Perez told supporters.
Kent shared a video on social media Wednesday, asking voters to double-check that their ballots were counted and to contact their county elections office to fix any issues.
"As of right now, remain calm, I appreciate all the prayers and all the support," Kent said. "Still too early to call and there's a lot of ballots out there to collect."
In 2022, Gluesenkamp Perez's victory came down to some 2,600 votes. The race was close enough that Kent was able to demand a districtwide machine recount, though it was not enough to change the outcome. Her win made Gluesenkamp Perez the first Democrat to hold the district seat in over a decade.
Before the 2022 primary, moderate Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler served as U.S. representative for the district. However, her vote to impeach former President Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection in 2021 earned her enemies among Trump-aligned Republicans, and she faced several challengers from within her own party during the 2022 primary, Kent among them.
In Washington, all candidates compete in a nonpartisan primary and the top two vote-getters advance to the general. When the dust settled in 2022, Kent and Gluesenkamp Perez emerged with the most votes, effectively unseating Herrera Beutler.
Both were political outsiders heading into the primary. Kent was a special forces veteran and Gold Star husband, while Gluesenkamp Perez owned a car repair shop with her husband.
During the 2024 campaign, Gluesenkamp Perez pointed to her record of bipartisanship and working on legislation to benefit working families in the 3rd District.
"There is a lot of money that came in to try and make this about a national race ... this is about us, this is about our values, overcoming that noise and saying we can chart our own course here," Gluesenkamp Perez said Tuesday. "That's the reality — it's not glamorous, it is sewer systems, we are talking about sewer lagoons, and that matters to people."
Kent's campaign focused on inflation, immigration and reining in U.S. aid for conflicts overseas. The night before Election Day, he told KGW that he was cautiously optimistic that he would win the rematch.
"I'm energized by all the groundswell of support that I see coming from the district and just getting out and engaging with people," Kent said.
Washington's 3rd District has been closely watched, as it's one of a few competitive races that could shift the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mark Stephan, a political science professor at Washington State University's Vancouver campus, said it's a crucial hold for Democrats if they want a shot at checking the rising Republican power in D.C.
"This race is a must-win for both sides," Stephan said, "and in particular the Democrats can't afford to lose it because they're trying to pick up some extra seats in order to get control of the House."