With less than a year until Southwest Washington votes on who will represent the region in the U.S. House of Representatives, two fundraising frontrunners have appeared, and two others show they’ve been busy themselves, raising thousands to fund lesser known campaigns.
Incumbent representative for Washington state's Third Congressional District Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, came into the 2026 election cycle with a large advantage, already boasting nearly $2.5 million in fundraising, with some of that money being carried over from her previous campaign in 2024. The most recent update of fundraising activity through the end of last year shows her campaign account now at $3.24 million.
But her challengers are doing their best to catch up.
Possibly the most likely general election challenger, state Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, announced in January that his campaign had raised more than $800,000 through the end of 2025.
Another candidate who is challenging Gluesenkamp Perez from within her own party, Brent Hennrich, announced earlier this week that his campaign had raised more than $50,000 in just the previous 10 days.
Finally, Republican Antony Barran has also reported significant fundraising, coming in at just over $43,000 raised for his campaign so far. According to Ballotpedia, the self-declared open encyclopedia of American politics, three others are also running for the seat.
That being said, none of those candidates have reported any fundraising or spending activity to the U.S. Federal Election Commission yet, according to its campaign finance web page. To search campaign finance information, visit https://www.fec.gov/data/.
At the last checkpoint, Gluesenkamp Perez was a clear fundraising frontrunner. The previous quarterly campaign finance report, which tracked fundraising and spending through the end of September 2025, showed the Gluesekamp Perez campaign raised roughly $2.5 million and, after spending some of that, had around $1.8 million in cash on hand.
The end of the year update reflects a major jump to $3.24 million, showing that her fundraising efforts are still strong. With her campaign having spent roughly $850,000, they still have $2.42 million in cash on hand headed into 2026, with nine months until the election.
Braun’s campaign, the next highest earner, has been trying to catch up to the incumbent since declaring his campaign in September. He made a quick fundraising jump out of the gate, raising more than $500,000 by the end of that month. He made slower, but still steady, progress in the following three months after the year-end fundraising reports showed that his campaign hauled in just over $839,000 between the start of his campaign and the quarterly reporting deadline at the end of 2026.
Campaign finance reports show that, like his opponents, Braun is also putting the money to use. The campaign reports spending just shy of $134,000, leaving the effort with just over $700,000 in cash on hand headed into 2026.
Hennrich’s campaign, according to the FEC, raised more than $68,000 in 2025 and spent a good chunk of that money, leaving the campaign with just over $7,500 in cash on hand going into this year.
Hennrich’s team is not slowing down, either, according to an announcement released earlier this week that his campaign had raised more than $50,000 in just the last two weeks. The exact sums of his January fundraising won't be available until the 2026 first quarter campaign finance reports are released in April, but if the $50,000 sum is accurate, it would push his campaign over the $100,000 mark.
In a news release from Monday, Feb. 2, Hennrich linked the rising success in his campaign's fundraising efforts to frustrations with the incumbent's voting record.
“Many are very understandably upset with our current representative’s voting record,” Hennrich said in his campaign's fundraising statement. “I aim to continue being a strong and unapologetic voice for Democrat values, and progressive policy as the path forward.”
Hennrich has been a critic of Gluesenkamp Perez’s support of conservative bills on immigration, voter identification and other issues since announcing his campaign last year. But Gluesenkamp Perez has now come under even more widespread criticism from her party after she voted to pass a bill to fund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and by extension Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), shortly before ICE officers shot and killed Alex Pretti during enforcement operations in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Last, but not least, Barran’s campaign was approaching the $50,000 mark as of the end of last year after reporting raising approximately $43,000. The Barran campaign has also kept busy spending what it raised, reporting spending almost exactly $38,000 and keeping just over $5,000 in cash on hand — the lowest in the bank for the four candidates who have reported any fundraising.
