Washington state Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, made a campaign stop on the outskirts of the Third Congressional District on Wednesday, May 14, at the Skookumchuck Grange in Tenino, speaking to constituents as he seeks to unseat U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania.
Corey Gauny, Thurston County Republican Central Committee chairman, moderated the event, reading questions submitted by the audience.
Throughout the evening, Braun touched on numerous topics, including state affordability, homelessness, immigration, mail-in voting and more.
Affordability
Braun told the audience in Tenino that affordability in Washington has been a top issue in the state for a number of years. He said state Republicans at the Senate level have been focused on the issue.
“It was always affordability, public education and whatever kind of property issues,” Braun said. “Today, it’s affordability by a mile. It’s food, gas, housing, childcare and health care — all increasingly unaffordable for regular Washingtonians.”
The senator added that the federal government, under President Donald Trump’s administration, has done two things to make Washington more affordable: keeping federal tax rates and energy prices low.
“Long term, the two things that at the federal level that make the biggest difference when it comes to cost of living for Washingtonians and folks across the country, and keeping federal taxes low and an energy strategy that keeps energy low across the board,” Braun said.
Homelessness
When asked about what ideas he has for managing homelessness in the Third Congressional District, Braun said Washington has had the largest growth of homelessness in the United States in recent years.
“We are literally spending billions of dollars at the state and local level to address homelessness,” Braun said. “Just look around you — we are not successful. It is getting worse, not better. We have more homeless folks in Washington than they have in New York.”
In his eyes, homelessness in Washington boils down to a lot of different issues, with the largest culprit being the policy of “housing first.”
“We tried it for a while, and it hasn’t worked. It’s failed, absolutely,” Braun said. “Here’s the thing — we’re humans. You have an idea to fix a problem, you try it, if it works — terrific. If it doesn’t work, you have to be honest enough to back up and say it isn’t working.”
Braun said the root causes of homelessness, almost without exception, are due to either behavioral health or mental health challenges, or struggles with substance abuse. He pointed to a small number of cases where residents experience homelessness due to economic reasons.
Immigration
When asked about immigration in the Third Congressional District and throughout the state and country, Braun said the largest issue was the open nature of the southern border during the Biden administration.
Braun believes the Trump administration has done strong work in securing the southern border.
“I was, frankly, very excited, very pleased and a little surprised to see how effective that we have been in the last 15 to 16 months with the southern border,” Braun said. “Here’s the thing that’s amazing to me: It turns out you just have to try. We haven’t been perfect. For years, decades even, we were told that we can’t do it and our immigration laws are too broken. It turns out all you have to do is enforcement.”
Despite the efforts by the Trump administration, Braun believes it’s going to take years to fix the amount of illegal immigration that took place under former President Joe Biden’s administration.
“I think we have to get after it in a humane and careful way, but we have to do it nonetheless,” Braun said. “We can’t be a country if we allow unfettered illegal immigration. I believe in a legal immigration system, but it has to be within the rule of law.”
Polling numbers
The National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) released poll results on Friday, May 8, that show Braun, the challenger, leading incumbent U.S. Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez by seven points in the race for Congress.
When asked about the poll by an audience member, Braun said he was encouraged to see the numbers but emphasized that his campaign team will not become complacent.
“I’m excited about that. It’s always gratifying and humbling when you see something like that,” Braun said. “We’ve got to be careful. We can’t get complacent. We’ve got another six months, and we’re going to have to work all the way through the tape if we’re going to win this thing.”
Braun said he and his team have been campaigning throughout Southwest Washington leading up to his race against Gluesenkamp Perez. He vowed that he’ll maintain this work ethic over the next six months — despite the lead in the NRCC poll.
“We’ve got a number of very, really important endorsements at the national level. That will help us with fundraising and, whether you like it or don’t like it, running for Congress,” Braun said. “I’m super proud of our fundraising team.”
Trump endorsed Braun earlier this year.
Mail-in voting
On the topic of mail-in voting, which Trump largely opposes except in rare exceptions, Braun told the audience that his preferred method of voting is getting up on election day and heading to the polls to cast his vote. He described it as feeling more like a civic duty.
“There’s a lot of great arguments with why don’t we do it like we did it 25 years ago. Here’s the challenge: We’re a nation of laws and our law has mail-in balloting,” Braun said. “There’s no constitutional prohibition on it. It was actually put in place by a vote of the people in an initiative. I believe in the people. I believe that sometimes the people get it wrong, but they’re still the ones who get to decide.”
Braun added that, for now, constituents opposed to mail-in voting have to work with the system in place. He suggested concerned residents watch elections closely and to get involved as observers. He believes there are many different ways to proactively and productively get involved to ensure election rules and guidelines are being followed, he said.
“If you really want to change it, the method is to go find the votes,” Braun said. “We’re not in a position to change it until we have those votes. To get those votes, we gotta do the hard work and convince the people that we have a better case — and then go to the next step.”
Learn more about Braun and his campaign by visiting www.votebraun.com.
