John Braun - Can Republicans flip Washington’s 3rd District?

A new poll shows Republican John Braun leading Democratic Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez as voter dissatisfaction grows in Washington’s 3rd District. Could Republicans be on track to flip one of the state’s most competitive seats?

John Braun is Washington Senate Republican Leader and a candidate in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. He joins the show to discuss the latest polling, voter concerns in southwest Washington, and why Republicans believe the district is ready for a political shift in 2026.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome back to the Lars Larson Show. You know, on Capitol Hill in both the House and the Senate, I think there are plenty of phonies up there all day long. But there are few phonies who are as phony as Marie Glusen Camperez. I mean, even her name, her alleged background, she shows up in a grease monkey outfit as though I work in an auto repair shop. No, she didn't. By her own account, she didn't do that. But hey, when you're a Democrat member of Congress, you kind of expect them to lie just a bit. But I think she's been a phony, and I think both conservatives and Democrats have figured out that she is a major phony, and that's why the most recent polling shows that her contender, uh John Braun uh Brown, is uh joining me now. Uh Republican of Centralia, Washington, Senate Republican leader. And it looks like, John, you are about seven points up over existing incumbent member of Congress, Marie Perez. I it sounds like uh this one's gonna be a winner for you.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Well, I I think uh there's still a long way to go. We got a poll out just last week from uh from the National Uh Republicans that uh has our campaign up by seven over the incumbent. But I don't want to take it, and and certainly it's encouraging. I think it's a good reflection of the work we've been doing and the gener excitement it's been generating around the district, but uh it's no time to take anything for granted. We've got to keep working from now until November.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

No, I don't want you to take anything for granted. I know that politicians are a little bit superstitious. They say we don't want to jinx uh what how we're doing. But on the other hand, I want people to understand this is the ripe opportunity to take this seat back. For conservatives, I live in the third congressional district, so I've got a dog in the fight, and you're my dog in the fight. I want to make sure that I'm properly represented because I don't think that Marie Gloos and Camperez represents me or anybody else in the third.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Oh, I couldn't agree with you more. I think she's been more interested in talking about things than actually doing things. And she and and she's just been off base entirely on very important things like uh reductions in taxes at the federal level, uh reducing our the cost of energy at the federal level. So I think she's wrong on the issues, but but more importantly, she just wants to talk about issues, sometimes kind of odd issues, instead of focusing on the things that that people of both parties care about. They care about affordability, they care about public safety, they care about education for their children. These are the things that matter in day people's day-to-day lives. And instead of talking about those, she's talking about kind of kind of selective interests that that attract her rather than the things that are most important to the people of the state of Washington, the people of the third congressional district.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

You know, because John, this is the woman who remember when she first ran and she was asked about illegal aliens in America, which has turned out to be one of the biggest issues in America and a significant one for citizens everywhere, including the state of Washington, including the third, she said nobody cares whether illegal aliens come across the border or not. Nobody stays up late at night because of that. Well, it turns out they do, and there are real consequences for people in the state of Washington.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

That's 100% true. She's sort of sort of dismissive of very valid concerns that regular people here in the state of Washington have in all the harm that goes with them. You know, in addition to folks streaming across the border during the Biden administration, we had you know fentanyl streaming uh uh along alongside and causing enormous damage to people, uh urban and rural, across Washington and across our country. And that's the wrong thing to be dismissive about.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

John Braun is with me, Washington Senate Republican leader now running against Marie Glus and Camperez to be the next member of Congress from the third congressional district. So what are the issues you're focusing on that seem to resonate so well with the voters right now?

SPEAKER_01 3:52

You know, this isn't kind of rocket science, it's the it's it's about the things that matter to them every day. It's affordability, and at the federal level, that's mostly uh federal taxes and the cost of energy, pursuing the all of the above energy strategy uh that has driven uh, you know, you know, we have this thing going on in Iran, but you know, even with that is driven the price of gas, even in Washington, where we have terrible policy for energy down by almost a dollar a gallon uh and and makes a big difference not only in filling up your car but in the cost of goods. Uh so taxes, energy, uh people care about uh uh uh a strong national defense, make sure it's funded and used well. And also they still care, even though uh we've made great progress in the last year and a half on border security, it's still an important issue. We have we have to make sure that we are a nation of laws and we enforce those laws.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Yeah, and in fact, I was just telling my audience at the beginning of the show today, on food stamps, for example, we've already seen a reduction of tens of thousands of people in the State of Washington alone who were on food stamps and now they're not because they've been shoved out of the country. They've either self-deported or they've been deported, and it's literally been tens of thousands of food stamp recipients in one state that are already gone and more likely to follow because the Trump administration said, look, we're not going to pay for food stamps for people who are in the country illegally. And this is the kind of issue that apparently Marie Gloos and Camperez thinks people don't care about. Well, I do, because while I might debate who gets food stamps or under what circumstances, I do think work rules and work requirements are important. But if you believe that that program ought to be there for Americans who've fallen on hard times for whatever reason, and then you've got tens of thousands of people who aren't even supposed to be here sucking up those benefits, every dime they pay to them is money that can't be used to help legitimate residents of the third congressional district.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

I think you're right. I think that the people of Washington, the people of our country are compassionate, they want to help people who are vulnerable, people who are having a hard time, but but they're very frustrated with both misuse and and potentially fraudulent use of these systems. They they uh they feel the fool and they're mad about it because they get up every day, they go to work, and they take care of their families, they pay their taxes, and they see people taking advantage of the systems, and they're tired of it. They they have they they want to take care of people that are truly vulnerable and need help, but they don't want to be taken advantage of.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Well, and imagine this. I mean, on the oil issue you brought up, uh the fact is the president's already saying maybe we should uh either suspend or get rid of the federal gas tax altogether, at least for the duration of the emergency. The state of Washington could do that and reduce the cost of fuel by almost a dollar a gallon if they did it. And yet her allies in the Democrat Party will not do that. I mean, Ferguson won't do it, the rest of the legislature won't do it, even though Washington families are hurting right now because they have to pay those costs during what amounts to a national emergency, as the United States makes sure that Iran does not get nuclear weapons. Imagine where we'd be if we weren't largely self-sufficient on oil.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Oh, yeah, we we would we would be in real trouble. And you're 100% right. Between the cap and trade system that adds, you know, sixty cents a gallon and our our fuel tax that adds another fifty plus cents a gallon. You know, we could make a real impact in the near term on the cost of fuel in Washington if uh the Democrats would allow that. But no, they're standing in the way of that. They have they've put the policies in place that have made us the second or third most expensive uh place in the country to buy fuel. And even in a difficult situation, which we are all facing now, uh they refuse to make any changes, even though none of the policies that they put in place are doing uh anything meaningful to change uh uh you know environmental outcomes or the emissions of carbon. They're all almost all being wasted in one way or another uh and not getting delivering the services people need, uh, and we're allowed and so they're standing in the way of reducing these prices in a time uh of of need uh while not really using the money to do anything meaningful to help people long term.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

That's right. That's John Braun. John is the Senate Republican leader in Olympia. He is running against Marie Glusencam Perez for the third congressional district, and by the way, member of Congress Perez is welcome on this show anytime.