U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat from Southwest Washington who has established a reputation for breaking with her party on certain partisan votes, has done so once again.
Gluesenkamp Perez, a second-term member of Congress, was one of just 10 Democrats who voted with the majority Republican party on Thursday to censure Rep. Al Green, a Texas Democrat, for interrupting President Donald Trump during his address to Congress Tuesday.
Green, who was removed from the chamber after his outburst, later said he disrupted the speech to protest Trump’s efforts to slash Medicaid funding. He is the fourth House Democrat to receive the formal reprimand in the past two years, NBC News reported.
Gluesenkamp Perez was the only Democrat from the Pacific Northwest to depart from her party on the vote. All five of Oregon’s Democratic House members — three of whom walked out of the address in protest — voted against the censure.
“When you knowingly break House rules, as Rep. Green did, it shouldn’t be surprising to face consequences,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive. “Congress should respect the co-equal office of the presidency, regardless of who holds the job, do our constitutional duty, and stop with the theatrics at these events.”
The rural Skamania County resident has long touted her ability to cross party lines on difficult votes, a trait that has vexed fellow Democrats and the liberal among her constituents. In 2023, Gluesenkamp Perez was one of 22 Democrats who voted to censure a fellow caucus member for making pro-Palestinian comments following the Hamas attack on Israel that year.
And while many Democratic members of Congress have committed to actively oppose Trump and his agenda, Gluesenkamp Perez has not strayed from her promise to work with lawmakers of any party.
“Partisan tensions are flaring in the media – but it doesn’t eliminate the need to solve the problems that matter to Southwest Washington and that most of us agree on,” she said in a statement ahead of the presidential address.
Gluesenkamp Perez in November defeated Republican Joe Kent for the second consecutive election to continue representing Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, a Trump-leaning district that includes much of the state’s southwest corner.
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