Centrist Dems in Swing Districts

Here’s a question–what do we do with collaborationist Democrats in swing districts who tack right to win the general election but who alienate their primary voters super strongly? Marie Gluesenkamp Perez isn’t just annoying because of how she votes. There are lots of moderate Democrats out there. She’s annoying because she’s so self-righteous about it. So naturally, her own voters hate her and are coming for her:

A line of more than 500 people wrapped around the Luepke Center in Vancouver for Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s Thursday town hall. Most of them were there to criticize the Skamania Democrat for siding with Republicans on recent controversial votes. Many of them had voted for her.

Her vote for the SAVE Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections but critics say could disenfranchise millions, was “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said David Terry, 78, who attended the town hall.

“We’re ready to primary her,” he said.

Only about half the crowd fit inside the community center. Hundreds more stood outside looking in through floor length windows, slapping posters, rapping on the glass and continuously chanting, “Vote her out.”

Constituents grilled the 3rd District congresswoman about where she stood on President Donald Trump’s actions and the deportation of undocumented immigrants without due process. But many of Perez’s answers were drowned out by roars of disapproval. Perez, usually a poised speaker, seemed occasionally flustered.

Notably. Perez’s constituents were especially furious about her voting for the SAVE Act, which makes it harder to vote and more speicifically harder for women who take their husband’s name to vote, as well as her voting to censure Al Green after his protest against Trump during the State of the Union. The latter is the kind of annoying self-righteous thing I’m talking about. Voting with Republicans on a bad faith censure like that does nothing but make people hate her.

But the thing is, Perez really does have to deal with a difficult district. Vancouver is where conservatives who hate Portland move. It’s not so conservative anymore because housing prices in Portland have forced a lot of people who probably would rather live in Oregon up there. Also, the 2026 elections are not going to be 2024. I would expect districts to probably swing 10 or so points left from 24. So Perez probably doesn’t need to tack right to win.

Still, this is a difficult problem of approaching Democrats in districts such as this and perhaps worth a conversation.