Finally some common sense Dem? Newly elected Washington congressman, auto repair shop owner and proud gun owner, berates her party for losing touch with the working class
- Marie Gluesenkamp Perez said her party had an “abso-f******-lute” class problem
- She railed about how many people disrespected people who don’t have a college degree
- She said running a small business meant she understood ordinary Americans
Washington’s new Democratic congresswoman who owns guns and runs an auto repair shop has criticized her party for losing touch with the working class.
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who caused one of the midterm upsets by winning a district twice held by Donald Trump, said her party had “abso-f******-lutely” a class problem and was not there succeeded in representing normal Americans.
She launched a blistering critique of how her party could be “patronising” towards working people and tone-deaf on money issues.
Gluesenkamp Perez told ex-Barack Obama staffer Jon Favreau on the Pod Save America podcast, “How [bleeped] is it that we only respect people or listen to people when they have a college degree?’
The 34-year-old mother of one child shared how running an auto repair shop across the Columbia River in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, Dean, meant she experienced the same issues as the working-class voters she represented.
Washington’s newly elected Democratic congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez slammed her own party for failing to represent working-class Americans
The mother, 34, runs an auto repair shop with her husband, Dean, (above) in Portland, Oregon
She said running a small business meant she understood the issues faced by working Americans
But she said Democrats had largely failed to select candidates from the “world’s median.”
“We need more representatives who work for a living rather than those who make their living from politics,” she added.
Her party now represents 9 of America’s 10 wealthiest districts.
Gluesenkamp Perez’s district, Southwest Washington’s 3rd, has a median household income of $79,000 — slightly higher than the national average, but slightly below Washington State’s figure of $82,000.
Asked how she achieved her against-the-odds victory in a traditionally Republican territory, she said, “I’ve never been coached to sound smart and polished and I just have to be myself.”
“I really believe that what people want is normal. We want people who pay their own taxes and who are on all childcare waiting lists and trying to navigate the world, like running a small business…
“If we can communicate that, we can be relevant in rural communities that work for a living. “Things in America won’t get any better until we elect a Congress more like America.”
The congresswoman said running her garage meant she could talk about issues like climate change in terms people could relate to.
“When it’s 117 degrees outside, I can’t work,” she said. “I can’t pay my mortgage. Democrats often talk about climate justice in these abstract terms that are irrelevant.
Gluesenkamp Perez spoke with former Barack Obama staffer Jon Favreau on the Pod Save America podcast
Republican Jaime Herrera Butler had previously held Southwest Washington’s 3rd district
Beutler failed to make the top-two state primaries after angering conservatives with her vote to impeach Trump after the attack on the US Capitol by his supporters
“You have to talk about the reality of people who work in the profession, who can’t make money.”
She added: “There is a tendency to be condescending to people who work for a living and explain their thoughts in less relevant ways.”
Gluesenkamp Perez, who describes himself as an independent-minded Democrat, defeated Joe Kent, a far-right “America First” ex-Green Beret endorsed by former President Donald Trump, after Republican incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler conceded her re-election bid.
The district, which narrowly voted for Trump in 2020, has been represented by Beutler for more than a decade. But she failed to make the top two in the state’s primaries after angering conservatives with her vote to impeach Trump following his supporters’ attack on the US Capitol.
Gluesenkamp Perez supports abortion access and policies to combat climate change, but has also described herself as a gun owner who opposes a ban on assault rifles.
She has said owning a gun is “part of life in rural America.”