Leslie Lewallen on the race for Washington’s 3rd District

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Washington state primary is on August 6 this year and all eyes will be on Congressional District 3. The district spans southwest Washington, including Clark, Lewis and Cowlitz counties, home to cities including Vancouver, Camas, Washougal and Battle Ground. It’s also a swing district, voting for Donald Trump in 2020 by about a 4% margin.

It’s currently represented by a Democrat, freshman Congresswoman and small business owner Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who defeated Republican challenger and U.S. Special Forces veteran Joe Kent by a slim margin in 2022. Kent is running again and so is Leslie Lewallen, a city councilor in the fast-growing city of Camas. An attorney and small business owner, she’s also a former prosecutor in King County, which includes Seattle.

This is a top-two primary, meaning the top two vote-getters — regardless of party — move on to the general election in November.

On this week’s Eye on Northwest Politics, Lewallen said she’s running for Congress because she’s a “proven results winner” and Republicans should have never lost the seat to begin with.

“Donald Trump won the district by four points in 2020 and then Tiffany Smiley actually carried the district by eight points in 2022. So this is an R-plus-five district and we should never again have lost the seat,” she said.

Lewallen added she stands a chance of being in the top two because “Republicans are hungry for an alternative to Joe Kent.”

Should she be elected to Congress, Lewallen cites border security, as well as law and order as her primary priorities, arguing what’s occurring at the southern border affects what happens in her district.

“I continue to make calls and knock on doors in this race, the number one thing that [the people of Camas] have said to me is they don’t want to see Southwest Washington become like Portland,” she said. “They don’t want the crime, the drugs and the homelessness. And our unsecured southern border is allowing crime, drugs, human trafficking to come straight up the I -5 corridor and take root in our communities.”

Lewallen further detailed how her background as a Camas City Councilor and previously a prosecutor in King County prepares her for Congress.

“I always ask myself two things at City Council: Is this a problem for the government to solve? And what are the unintended consequences? And then a third question that I always ask myself is how will this improve the lives of my constituents? So I think that really prepares me,” she said. “And as a prosecuting attorney, I think again we have a law and order crisis here, not just in Southwest Washington, but throughout the nation. And I think that gives me a unique perspective and a tool belt too when I get to Congress to approach these issues in a well thought out methodical manner.”

Joe Kent has raised around $1 million, which is about double what Lewallen has for this race. Further, Gluesenkamp Perez has raised around 4 times that. Despite these numbers, Lewallen still maintains confidence, even referring to Kent’s campaign as “a sinking ship.”

“We are actually on an upward momentum that’s just unstoppable. I’m so proud of what our campaign has done so far,” she emphasized. “We’ve been running television ads. I’ve been out throughout the community. We’ve built a strong grassroots coalition. I have Republicans from every spectrum who have endorsed me and are supporting me.”

Watch the full interview in the video above.

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