Carolyn Long talks with citizens of the greater Lewis County area during a town hall meeting at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis.
Democrat Carolyn Long is running against history in her bid to unseat Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler. Only once in at least the last 70 years has a challenger defeated a 3rd Congressional District incumbent.
But Long could defy the odds on Nov. 6. She has out-fundraised Herrera Beutler, campaigned hard across the district, piled up a hefty list of major endorsements and won Clark County, the largest electorate in the Southwest Washington district, in the August primary. She’s giving Herrera Beutler her toughest race of her congressional career.
Long, a political professor but first-time candidate, said she is running against Republican “complicity” to President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and policies.
“The Republican Party in Congress has abdicated their role in being a constitutional check on this president,” she said in a joint interview with The Daily News editorial board this week.
Herrera Beutler, a Battle Ground Republican seeking her fifth term, calls herself an independent thinker who is not afraid to challenge the president or work across the aisle when necessary. And she contends the nation is better off under Republican leadership.
“When I worked under President Obama, even though I sharply disagreed with a lot of his policies, I decided that where he was going to benefit the folks I serve, I was going to work with him. And I did,” she said. “It’s because I put policy above partisanship. I’m taking the same approach with this president.”
Herrera Beutler famously bucked a GOP attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act because she considered a substitute GOP plan inadequate. She also criticized separation of families at the border. However, she continues to be an ardent supporter of the GOP’s 2017 tax cut.
A Tight Race
In addition to sharp policy disagreements, Long and Herrera Beutler come from different backgrounds. Herrera Beutler grew up in rural Clark County and, in 2010, became the first Latino person elected to the House of Representatives from Washington state. Long grew up in a rural community on the Oregon Coast and worked at her dad’s produce store and Safeway before earning a doctorate degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Both expect a tight race. Herrera Beutler, 39, received 42 percent of the vote to Long’s 35 percent in the Aug. 7 top-two primary. But the Democratic and Republican vote total among all candidates was essentially equal. Cowlitz County, which is the second largest county in the eight-county district, could be a difference-maker. It leaned quite far right in the last election, but Long has campaigned extensively here.
A New York Times poll this week put Herrera Beutler at 48 percent, Long at 41 percent and undecided at about 12 percent. But a small sample size and considerable margin of error means the race could still go either way.
An unprecedented amount of money is flowing into the race as Republicans try to hold onto a historically blue seat and Democrats sense an opportunity to seize one of the 23 seats needed to flip the House of Representatives to Democratic control.
Long, 51, has raised $2.36 million and spent $1.29 million as of September, according to the Federal Election Commission. Her top five donors, which contributed $5,000 each, are all labor unions. Herrera Beutler has raised a little more than $2 million and spent $1.65 million in that same time period. Her top donor, an anti-abortion nonprofit, contributed more than $35,000 to her campaign. Both candidates have faced criticism regarding how well they know the district, which includes Clark, Lewis, Pacific, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Skamania, Klickitat counties and part of Thurston County.
Long, who has taught at Washington State University Vancouver for 23 years but only moved the district about 16 months ago, has been called a “carpetbagger.” She says her 45 town halls across the district this year connected her with thousands of constituents. Herrera Beutler has faced criticism for not holding town halls with her constituents, opting instead for dial-in phone town halls. She said she doesn’t need town halls to get to know a district she’s lived in her entire life.
What’s at Stake
Much of the battle has centered around healthcare and the economy. Herrera Beutler has championed the tax cut, saying it helped out small businesses and families. Long said she would like to keep the parts of the tax bill that helped small businesses, but said the majority of the tax cuts disproportionately benefited the wealthiest Americans, contributed to the growing economic gap and deepened the nation’s $21.7 trillion debt.
Herrera Beutler said she wants to repeal and replace Obamacare. She has repeatedly accused Long of supporting a single-payer healthcare system, much to Long’s evident frustration. Long champions a public option system, in which participants buy into a government-run insurance program, saying it would create competition. She said she does not support a single-payer system, often called Medicare for all, and accuses Herrera Beutler’s campaign of distorting her position.
Despite some pointed remarks and eye-rolling during the editorial board interview Wednesday, both candidates were articulate, knowledgeable and respectful. Both said they admired the other’s dedication to her career, family and public service.
Long said her interactions with volunteers and voters during the campaign have renewed her faith in America’s democracy.
“There are so many people who have become energized in this political atmosphere because they’re not happy with the direction of the country and they want to do something about it,” she said. “We have to make sure we support our democratic institutions. They matter and they are not doing well right now because of the hyperpartisanship (and) because of the incivility.”
Herrera Beutler said serving in Congress has been the “highest honor” of her life.
No matter who wins and controls Congress, she said, “my hope and prayer is ... that we can continue to move the economy forward, that we can continue to protect things and see more growth and opportunity because whether I win or not, this is my home. I’m raising my kids here. This is where we’re from. These are our roots. So I truly do want to see our folks have their economic and really just their personal desires fulfilled with regard to themselves and their families.”
