GOP Candidate in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District Requests Recount

UPDATE: As of Dec. 21, the recount requested by Kent is complete and did not change the outcome of the election. Gluesenkamp Perez is headed to Congress.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, Dec. 7, Republican congressional candidate Joe Kent made a formal request to the Washington secretary of state’s office to recount the results of the election for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. After certification on Wednesday afternoon, Kent trailed Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez by 2,629 votes, or 0.83%, a high enough margin to avoid an automatic recount under state law. The Kent campaign paid the nearly $50,000 fee to request a recount. Gluesenkamp Perez’s victory was a major upset and crucial pick up for House Democrats, flipping the seat from red to blue. Gluesenkamp Perez will replace outgoing Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump and subsequently lost to Trump-backed Kent in the GOP primary. 

Doug Basler, the defeated Republican candidate in Washington’s 9th Congressional District, also made a recount request, specifically a manual recount of 717 ballots cast in two precincts. In contrast to the relatively close election in the 3rd Congressional District, Basler lost to Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) by over 43 percentage points.

“We are confident our county election officials and workers throughout the Third and Ninth Districts, and across the state, administered an accurate and reliable election for all Washingtonians,” Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (D) said in a statement. “We respect any candidate’s right to request a recount, and we will proceed and support the counties accordingly.”

Read the secretary of state’s full statement here.