Longview, Kelso favor Gluesenkamp Perez; rest of Cowlitz backs Braun

Voters in Longview and Kelso favored U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in the 3rd Congressional District race, but the rest of Cowlitz County backed Republican John Braun by a wide enough margin to give him the county, unofficial precinct results show.

Countywide, Braun leads 25,390 votes to 21,767, or 53.35% to 45.74%, as of the county's Nov. 5 count, with about 300 Cowlitz ballots left to count as of Nov. 6, according to the state. Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat, leads the full district 187,232 to 158,922. Braun conceded Nov. 5, as The Civic Circle reported.

Longview and Kelso

In Longview's 24 precincts, Gluesenkamp Perez has 7,879 votes, or 54.89%, to Braun's 6,309, or 43.95%. She leads in 22 of them. Braun leads in Ocean Beach, by 11 votes, and Oriole, by five. Her strongest precinct in the county is Sacajawea South, at 69.3%.

In Kelso's eight precincts, she has 2,158 votes, or 54.36%, to 1,754, or 44.18%. Braun leads only in Tam O'Shanter, 155 to 153.

The two cities cast about 38.5% of the county's votes in the race.

The rest of the county

In the other 60 precincts, which include Castle Rock, Kalama, Woodland and unincorporated areas, Braun has 17,327 votes, or 59.20%, to 11,730, or 40.08%. That 5,597-vote edge outweighs his combined deficit of 1,974 votes in Longview and Kelso.

Braun leads in 52 of those precincts, with his strongest showings in Toutle North, at 69.8%, and Studebaker, at 68.8%. Gluesenkamp Perez leads in seven, including Kalama by three votes.

The same split down the ballot

The divide is not unique to the House race. In all four races on Longview and Kelso ballots that matched a Republican against a Democrat, voters in both cities favored the Democrat, and the rest of the county favored the Republican.

In the county commissioner race, Democrat Chelsea Chandler has 53.7% in Longview and 53.3% in Kelso, while Republican Richard Dahl has 61.5% in the rest of the county. In the two 19th Legislative District House races, Democrats Kevin Moynihan and Terry Carlson each have about 52.5% in both cities, while Republicans Jim Walsh and Joel McEntire each have about 60% in the district's precincts outside them.

Where Braun trailed other Republicans

Braun ran behind his party's other candidates. Countywide, Dahl has 55.64% in the commissioner race, about 2.3 points more than Braun. The gap is nearly the same in Longview, in Kelso and in the rest of the county.

In Longview, Braun's 43.95% trails Walsh's 47.3% and McEntire's 47.2%.

Part of the difference went to Gluesenkamp Perez, who ran 1 to 1.7 points ahead of Chandler in each part of the county. Part went to write-ins, which drew 0.9% of the House vote countywide, compared with 0.1% in the commissioner race.

The result also continues a shift from 2024, when Republican Joe Kent carried Cowlitz County over Gluesenkamp Perez, 54.97% to 44.63%, according to final state results. Braun's share is 1.6 points below Kent's, and hers is 1.1 points higher.