Republicans are reluctantly embracing controversial right-wing candidate Joe Kent, who is vying to unseat a vulnerable Democrat this fall in what is likely to be one of the most competitive House races in the country.
In Washington State’s 3rd District top-two primary Tuesday night, Kent bested Republican Leslie Lewallen, a former King County prosecutor who tried to appeal to GOP voters worried about Kent’s electability.
Kent will take on Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) in November. It’s a rematch in a district former president Donald Trump carried by several points in 2020. Republicans are eager to win it back.
Kent has pushed Jan. 6 conspiracy theories and railed against former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. But he beat former Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) in a primary last cycle and went on to lose in the general election.
Herrera Beutler voted to impeach Trump, although she had support from GOP leadership. Even after Kent prevailed in the primary, party leaders were loath to spend money on him.
And there have been signs of lingering unease about Kent inside the GOP. Several sitting Republican lawmakers, as well as McCarthy, donated to Lewallen over Kent this cycle.
But top Republicans believe — or hope — things will be different this time around. Several GOP operatives tell us Kent, a retired Special Forces combat veteran endorsed by Trump, has been more receptive to their advice about how to run a successful campaign and has toned down some of his rhetoric. (We’d just note there have been several instances where that has not been the case.)
The NRCC is expected to devote resources to boosting Kent this fall, though it’s still too early to say what that will look like.
Unsurprisingly, Democrats aren’t buying the idea that Kent has softened his image. Dan Gottlieb, a DCCC spokesman, called Kent a “proud conspiracy theorist with ties to white nationalism” who has “spent years spreading his dangerous agenda.” Here’s more:
Meanwhile, in an opening salvo to the general election, Gluesenkamp Perez is already out with a new ad declaring Kent as “still too extreme for Southwest Washington.” Here’s the ad, shared exclusively with Punchbowl News.
