The match-up between Gluesenkamp Perez and Braun in southwest Washington’s 3rd Congressional District

The cost of living. Food, housing, gas, groceries, child care, and health care have all become increasingly unaffordable. And it didn’t help at all when my opponent voted for what would have been the largest tax increase in American history.

Congress can help by keeping taxes low, removing the unnecessary regulations that raise costs on the things we buy, and pursuing more affordable energy through an all-of-the-above energy strategy that can help reduce costs and put more money back in people's pockets.

Congress recently passed a law that added thousands to the average family’s take home pay, cut taxes on tips and overtime, delivered additional tax relief for seniors, expanded the Child Tax Credit, and made it easier to pay for child care and health expenses. Unfortunately, my opponent voted no.

Just as importantly, a member of Congress should use the platform of the office to speak out against harmful policies such as the new Washington state income tax and the Climate Commitment Act that significantly raised the price we pay at the gas pump. My opponent has been silent on these issues.

The world is a more dangerous place for everyone if the murderous regime in Iran is allowed to pursue a nuclear weapons program. The president took action to address an issue that our nation and the world have grappled with for decades. I’m grateful that active military operations have concluded. As I write this, peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iranian governments are still underway, and I believe any final agreement must secure lasting peace and stability in the region while enhancing safety and security around the world.

Having served in the Middle East, including the Arabian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, I have firsthand experience with the complexities of this challenge. I understand the importance of addressing it decisively and without delay if we are to achieve lasting peace and security in the Middle East while protecting the interests of our nation and its citizens.

No, I voted to end it. When the strikes began, I said plainly that removing a leader who sponsored terrorism was one thing, but the administration offered no durable, strategic plan. This is not how a superpower keeps the peace. Deterrence and careful, deliberate action are our real strengths.

Months in, what I hear across southwest Washington is that people need gas prices to come down and to be able to afford to put food on the table, not an open-ended multi-billion-dollar war. My job is to ask the hard questions before we commit American lives and treasure, and to insist that any prolonged military action go through Congress, as the Constitution requires.

President Trump inherited a mess on the southern border under the Biden administration, and was right to take decisive action to restore order and strengthen border security. Today, illegal crossings are way down, and our southern border is more secure than it has been in years.

ICE officials made an appropriate course correction to shift their focus to apprehending illegal aliens with a criminal history.

I don’t support light rail under the current conditions. Political leaders should listen to the people they represent. The voters of Clark County have rejected light rail on three separate occasions. If backers want light rail, they should put it on the ballot and make their case.

And they’d better be clear about the costs. We can’t afford light rail under the current proposal. Costs have skyrocketed; the latest projection is over $15 billion and project sponsors only have about a third of that money lined up with no clear idea where the other $10 billion would come from. Clark County commuters would be facing an astronomical amount of tolling to pay for light rail, and I won’t support that.

Some effort has been made to break the project into a series of phases, but including light rail in the early phase puts federal funding at risk. It will almost certainly lead to an even higher overall project cost and turn downtown Vancouver into an active construction zone for decades. The negatives of the current light rail proposal far outweigh the positives.

My consistent position has been simple: the best bridge is the one that actually gets built. The 1917 bridge is functionally obsolete, seismically unsafe, and the worst truck bottleneck in two states. Replacing it is what matters most, and I fought to bring home over $2 billion to get it done.

What I’ve pushed for at every step is congestion relief, more vehicular capacity, and keeping costs and tolls down so the project works for the people who actually drive it, including rural neighbors in places like Skamania County, where roughly 80% commute outside the county and light rail or bus rapid transit will never be a realistic option.

I've consistently been skeptical of sweeping government mandates in this area. I voted against blanket federal bans because a one-size-fits-all rule, whether written in D.C. or imposed by initiative, isn't the right way to handle questions that have real nuance to them. These proposals can lead to enforcement mechanisms, like mandatory genital exams for young girls, that go further than most parents would accept. These calls should be made by school districts and local athletic associations, who can weigh the specific sport, age group, and circumstances. That kind of individualized judgment serves kids and fairness better than a categorical ban.

The fairness concerns parents and female athletes raise are legitimate and should not be dismissed. But I don't think government intervention in deeply personal questions serves families better than the people closest to them do. My focus stays on what affects the most kids in southwest Washington: whether they have a school worth attending, a coach, a team, and a real shot at a good future.