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Opinion
The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
Despite the votes that need explaining and the strained efforts to explain them, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is not the problem.
Yet as the Democratic congressional representative took the stage for a town hall in Vancouver, as she frequently was drowned out by audience members, as protesters outside the floor-length windows chanted “Vote her out!,” Perez was the target of enmity and vitriol and anger on Thursday.
That is somewhat understandable. People who are engaged enough to attend a town hall are outraged by the Trump administration. There are deportations without due process and indiscriminate firings of federal employees and active, aggressive, unconstitutional efforts to destroy the federal government.
The incompetent kakistocracy of Donald Trump’s first term has morphed into scorched-earth autocracy during his second term, and people who pay attention are feeling helpless and indignant. “We are watching, listening, judging and we are angry,” one sign read at Thursday’s event. “We’re going to primary you,” another read.
And these, it appears, are the people who voted for Perez.
But therein lies the problem. And the lesson. And the word of warning for Democrats who believe Perez is not enough of a Democrat. Because the opposition to her is reminiscent of recent history in the 3rd Congressional District she represents.
A decade ago, the Clark County Republican Party turned on one of its own: Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler. Facing censure from her own party for not being Republican enough, Herrera Beutler retorted, “A movement can’t grow if it is more concerned with burning heretics than winning converts.”
By 2022, after Herrera Beutler voted to impeach the eminently impeachable Trump, Republicans opted for right-wing conspiracy theorist Joe Kent in the primary. Demagoguery won out over debate; recalcitrance won out over reason. But centrist voters rejected the extremism espoused by Kent, and Republicans lost the seat in the general election — a seat they had held since 2010.
Now, local Democrats appear eager to repeat that act of self-immolation. Or at least the most vocal of them do.
And so they shouted at Thursday’s town hall. And they carried signs. And they cheered when the moderator started a question with “What are you doing to hold Donald Trump accountable for violating the Constitution …” and another with “Please explain your vote on the SAVE Act …”
That last one is problematic for Perez. The SAVE Act imposes restrictions on voter registration that critics say will disenfranchise millions. It has become a lightning rod, and Perez was one of 10 House Democrats to vote in favor of it. She also has not effectively handled the fallout.
“Any idea that I am standing to disenfranchise people is patently false,” Perez insisted Thursday. But then she added, “This bill was honestly a dumpster fire” — an assertion that fails to explain why she voted for it.
Other answers often were convoluted and rattled — when you could hear them above the shouts from the audience. And all of this highlights the conundrum facing Perez and her supporters.
Perez represents a district that voted three times for Trump. It is a district that voted for Republican Dave Reichert in the 2024 race for governor. It is a district that leaned toward the GOP in every statewide election last year and is unlikely to support a progressive Democrat.
So if Perez chooses her battles by focusing on funding for an Interstate 5 Bridge or the right for citizens to repair their vehicles and smartphones, that seems more sensible than ineffectually shouting at the clouds created by the Trump administration. Her party, after all, is in the minority in Washington, D.C.
“Being angry, being loud feels good,” she told the audience Thursday. “But is it productive? … How do we make our agenda relevant to a broader community?”
In other words, a desire to burn heretics just might be the problem.
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