Joe Kent surpasses Jaime Herrera Beutler in WA 3rd Congressional District’s tightly contested race
Aug 8, 2022, 6:04 PM | Updated: 6:30 pm
(AP Photo/Nathan Howard, File)
(AP Photo/Nathan Howard, File)
A Trump-backed candidate for Congress has overtaken establishment-Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler — one of a handful of Republicans to impeach the former president — in Washington’s Third Congressional District.
Republican Joe Kent now leads Jaime Herrera Beutler by nearly 1,000 votes.
The six-term incumbent has faced backlash for voting to impeach the former president after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
As of Monday night, Kent had 22.8% of the vote, and Herrera Beutler had 22.3%, a gap of 960 votes. Herrera Beutler held a narrow lead going into Monday, and her lead increased slightly when Cowlitz County updated its results at about 3 p.m., but then disappeared when Clark County updated just after 5 p.m.
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If the results stand, Kent will face Democratic candidate Marie Gluesenkamp Perez this November, surging in the race after early primary results favored Beutler. Gluesenkamp Perez took an early lead with about 31.8% of the vote, but Herrera Beutler appeared to be securely in second at about 24.5%, with Kent in third at about 20.1%.
In Washington state, a mandatory recount is triggered if the gap between an advancing candidate and a defeated candidate is less than 2,000 votes and is also less than 0.5% of the total number of votes cast for both candidates.
