As Election Nears, WA's Gluesenkamp Perez Votes With Democrats Against The Voter Disenfranchisment She Previously Supported

Southwest Washington’s switch-hitter Democrat Rep. Marie Glusenkamp Perez changed her stance on a Republican-led effort to disenfranchise millions of eligible voters to crackdown on the imaginary threat of non-citizens infiltrating U.S. elections. After facing intense national scrutiny for her fascism-enabling voting record, Gluesenkamp Perez may be feeling the pressure to take less morally reprehensible votes — or at least differentiate herself from her moderate Republican challenger in her 2026 re-election bid. 

Last spring, House Republicans and four House Democrats passed the SAVE Act, which would require voters to provide proof of citizenship such as a passport or birth certificate in order to register to vote or update existing registration. The documentation requirements would disenfranchise countless Americans. Other provisions in the bill would effectively end online registration and vote-by-mail systems, both have proven to increase participation in elections. 

At the time, Gluesenkamp Perez supported the bill, justifying her vote by uncritically repeating Republican talking points. 

“I do not support noncitizens voting in American elections – and that’s common sense to folks in Southwest Washington,” Gluesenkamp said of her 2025 vote. “Voting in our nation’s elections is a sacred right belonging only to American citizens, and my vote for the SAVE Act reflects that principle.”

She went on to say she understood that the SAVE Act has “no chance of passage in the Senate due to the filibuster, as well as several deeply flawed provisions.” So, she encouraged House Leadership to consider her Let America Vote Act, which she felt had a better shot of passage. 

But earlier this week when essentially the same bill came around for a second try, Gluesenkamp Perez had a change of heart — or at least a change in political strategy. 

“All of us in Southwest Washington agree that only U.S. citizens should determine the outcome of U.S. elections, but this bill is more concerned with duct-taping together a government-run photocopying service than actually advancing the serious goal of ensuring free and fair elections,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in a press statement. “Vote-by-mail is the gold standard in election security, and the SAVE America Act would undermine our state’s longstanding elections process by forcing Washingtonians to jump through nonsensical bureaucratic hoops in order to mail in their ballot.”

As The Burner has documented over the last year, anytime Washingtonians see a headline calling out a handful of Democrats for voting for something diabolic, it is a safe bet Gluesenkamp Perez will be among them. 

Since she represents a purple district, some argue that it is smart for her to cross party lines to keep the Republicans who support her happy. This strategy works best when there’s no decent Republican in the race like in her first and second election when she ran against and only narrowly defeated far-right nut-job Joe Kent. But in 2026, she faces a challenge from State Sen. John Braun, a well-established, fairly standard Republican. So there may be enough Republicans in her district who voted for her because they couldn’t stomach voting for Kent, but would rather have a real Republican rather than the sort of plant-based Republican alternative Gluesenkamp Perez represents. 

The Democrat-leaning half of the district will have to choose between the controversial Gluesenkamp Perez and leftward challenger Brent Hennrich who faces a significant disadvantage when it comes to institutional support and financial backing. This vote may save her from attacks about voting to disenfranchise millions of citizens twice, but there’s still plenty of bad votes for Gluesenkamp Perez to explain to the Democrats she represents.