Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., arrives at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 25, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez said she backed the Republican bill to avert a government shutdown passed by the U.S. House on Friday.
But the roll call results show her not voting.
She tried, but was too late. The effort, captured on video, shows her sprinting to the podium in front of the dais, waving to get the attention of the presiding officer to cast her vote. The voting period had ended.
Video showing Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., attempting to cast her vote on the House floor.
Now, she plans to submit comments for the Congressional Record explaining what occurred and her stance on the seven-week stopgap spending bill that did pass 217-212.
“I was on the floor casting a ‘yes’ vote, but my vote was not acknowledged by the presiding officer,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement released by her office. Gluesenkamp Perez, of Skamania County, represents the 3rd Congressional District in southwest Washington.
In a separate statement, the congresswoman said she supported the legislation because she “could not in good conscience vote to shut our government down, which would have made health care and food even more expensive for millions of Americans while handing the executive branch even more control over the nuts and bolts of the administrative apparatus.”
Republicans seized on the two-term congresswoman’s faux pas.
“As usual, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez talks a good game, but she’s not there for us when it counts,” said state Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, who has launched a campaign to unseat her in 2026. He is the minority leader of the Washington state Senate.
Republican U.S. Reps. Michael Baumgartner and Dan Newhouse voted for the resolution. Perez would have been the lone Democrat in the Washington delegation to join them. As it was, only one Democrat in the House, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, voted for the legislation.