The Clark County Republican Party endorsed Joe Kent as its pick for the 3rd Congressional District race for Congress last week.
Matthew Bumala, the CCRP chairman, stated in an email that 84% of the votes supported Kent in the election, which will take place in 2024. The vote needed the support of two-thirds of the party’s precinct committee officers in order to approve the endorsement.
“This speaks volumes in comparison to the last election cycle which had several Republican candidates in the race going into the primaries without any of them having the endorsement from the county party,” Bumala stated in the email. “In Washington state, we have a jungle primary. The divided vote hurt us unnecessarily and gave little runway time for people to rally behind Kent going into the general election. Had our party rallied behind him earlier, we’d see a different congressional representative in D.C. right now.”
Bumala stated those who voted for the endorsement hope the move can unite people “behind one candidate now and avoid the division and infighting over different candidates.”
“We can’t replay what we did to ourselves last election cycle,” Bumala stated. “We are in it to win. Tonight was a big proclamation toward that.”
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is currently the representative for the 3rd Congressional District. Gluesenkamp Perez defeated Kent in the November general election as she secured 160,314 votes to Kent’s 157,685.
