For the New York Times, I spent a day with Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez as she met with constituents and handled congressional business for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat, won the 2020 congressional race by the slimmest of margins and now represents one of the reddest districts in the US.

She told a crowd at an evening fundraiser in Washougal that she thinks she holds the record for most successful amendments by a freshman representative and touted other successes including receiving $600 million in federal money to replace the aging I-5 bridge. But she’s a bit of an outlier among democrats in DC: prior to her election to Congress, she ran an auto repair shop with her husband; she grew up in an Evangelical household and was homeschooled for many years; and she’s one of the youngest members of Congress (born in 1988).

I followed along as she toured a former USDA tree nursery at Wind River that she helped return to the state to develop into a recreation area, went on a ride-along with an EMS crew that covers 1600 square miles in mostly rural Skamania County, met with the Director of the National Weather Service to help replace two destroyed buoys (of three total) at the mouth of the Columbia River; toured the welding shop at Clark College (where she said many of the students would likely be those helping to build the I-5 bridge replacement; she also tried her hand at gas metal arc welding); and then held a fundraiser event at supporters’ home in Washougal.

Thanks again to Lance and Marisa for the assignment!