President Donald Trump on Tuesday threw his weight behind Republican state Senate leader John Braun in the battle to flip Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, instantly turning a closely watched regional race into a national storyline. The move puts Braun in step with national GOP power brokers and raises the stakes for incumbent Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who has already beaten Trump-backed opponents twice. National party groups and outside spenders are already circling the district.
Trump announced his endorsement on Truth Social, praising Braun’s stances on cutting taxes and tightening border security and branding Gluesenkamp Perez “a true Radical Left Extremist with a Track Record that REEKS,” according to reporting by OPB. “John Braun has my Complete and Total Endorsement,” Trump wrote.
The National Republican Congressional Committee quickly cheered the move, calling Braun “a results-driven leader” and drawing a sharp contrast with Gluesenkamp Perez in a campaign release. The NRCC said Trump’s backing should help consolidate conservative voters who had been skeptical of some of Braun’s earlier leadership decisions in Olympia. Braun, a four-term senator who leads the Senate Republican caucus and runs a family emergency-vehicle business in Chehalis, publicly thanked the former president in a campaign statement, according to his official biography.
Money Gap And Muscle
Federal Election Commission filings show Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez raised about $3.24 million and had roughly $2.42 million in cash on hand at the end of 2025, according to the Federal Election Commission. John Braun’s campaign reported about $839,735 in receipts and $703,747 in cash on hand for the same period, according to his FEC filings. That financial cushion gives the incumbent a clear edge as national groups weigh how heavily to invest in WA-3.
Why This District Matters
The 3rd District, stretching from Vancouver through rural timber country, has a history of split-ticket voting. It backed Donald Trump in presidential contests while electing Gluesenkamp Perez to Congress. As the Associated Press has reported, that blend of presidential and local results makes WA-3 one of the nation’s most competitive districts.
Incumbent Pushback
Gluesenkamp Perez fired back at the endorsement, calling it “full of lies about my record,” and argued that voters in Southwest Washington “deserve a representative who answers to them” rather than to a national political machine, according to OPB. Her campaign is expected to lean hard on local constituent work and that sizable fundraising advantage as Republicans rally around Braun.
With Trump’s seal of approval now in place, national GOP strategists and conservative donors face a decision about how aggressively to target WA-3 this cycle. Both campaigns are already gearing up for a costly fall fight, and early TV ad buys, outside-group spending and the next round of FEC filings will signal whether Trump’s endorsement is enough to change the race’s trajectory.
