Voters in Washington state's 3rd congressional district cast their ballots on August 4, 2026, in a top-two primary that pits two-term Democratic incumbent Marie Gluesenkamp Perez against a nine-candidate field. The ballot includes Gluesenkamp Perez, Democrat Brent Hennrich, Republican John Braun, and six other candidates vying for two general election slots. Under Washington's top-two system, the two highest vote-getters advance to November regardless of party affiliation. Washington's regularly scheduled primary falls on the first Tuesday of August, and Clark County, the district's population center, mailed ballots for the August 4 contest on July 17. County election officials posted tallied results from each county at results.vote.wa.gov after 8 p.m. on election night, and Clark County's Elections Office will conduct hand-count audits of the U.S. Representative 3rd Congressional District race on August 5 and August 13. Gluesenkamp Perez first won the seat in 2022, flipping a district that Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler had held for six terms since 2010. That 2022 victory came against Trump-endorsed Republican Joe Kent, whom Gluesenkamp Perez narrowly defeated with 50.1% of the vote. She improved her margin in 2024, taking roughly 52% of the general election vote and running about seven points ahead of her party's presidential nominee in a district Donald Trump carried in all three of his presidential campaigns, most recently by about three points. The 2024 primary in the district saw Gluesenkamp Perez and Joe Kent advance past Leslie Lewallen and John Saulie-Rohman, setting up their second consecutive general election matchup. Hennrich's presence on the 2026 primary ballot adds an intraparty dynamic. He ran for the seat in 2022 before standing down, clearing a path that cycle, and decided to mount another campaign for this primary. The 2026 candidate field also includes Kevin Waters, listed in Clark County's candidate guide, and John P. Roco, who prefers the Republican Party and appears in the Clark County primary voters' pamphlet. Both Hennrich and Braun criticized Gluesenkamp Perez for her voting record during the primary campaign. Braun argued that Gluesenkamp Perez has repeatedly pushed back against her own party. Washington's Secretary of State certified Gluesenkamp Perez as a candidate for U.S. Representative in the 3rd Congressional District, and the state's elected officials page lists her as the sitting representative for the district. The broader context here is a test of candidate-specific crossover appeal in a politically volatile district. Gluesenkamp Perez has built her coalition by outperforming standard Democratic benchmarks by significant margins, a pattern she has replicated across two cycles. Whether that personal brand can sustain her through a third contest, particularly with multiple Democratic and Republican challengers fragmenting the primary vote, will shape the November landscape. The 3rd district's history of ticket-splitting, combined with a crowded primary field that complicates party-line consolidation, makes the primary results a leading indicator of whether incumbency and local positioning can continue to override national partisan gravity in a district that has backed Trump at the presidential level while sending a Democrat to Congress for two consecutive terms.