Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
Gluesenkamp Perez says U.S. support must ensure Israel “can defend itself” while delivering humanitarian relief to civilians in Gaza. Confronted at a 2025 town hall, she said: “America’s national interest is better served when there is a liberal democracy in the Middle East, and right now, that is Israel.”
Gluesenkamp Perez represents Washington’s 3rd District, the state’s rural southwest, and she is the sitting member in one of the country’s closest seats.
Her votes point both ways and the pattern is early-versus-later. She voted against the November 2023 standalone package and for the February and April 2024 bills and against both cutting amendments; no located statement explains the November exception, so that badge stands without her reasons. Explaining her February 2024 vote she said support was needed “to ensure our ally Israel, the only democracy in the region, can defend itself against terrorist threats and keep working to free the hostages taken by Hamas”, and her April statement paired replenishing stockpiles with humanitarian relief to civilians in Gaza. In the same February statement she wrote that “Both Israelis and Palestinians deserve the right to live with dignity, freedom, and security.”
She has defended the position to hostile rooms. At an August 2025 town hall in Longview, confronted by constituents over Gaza, she said the war could end if Hamas released the hostages, that she did not run for Congress to be a Middle East diplomat, and, defending the alliance: “I think it’s pretty important to have a country in the Middle East that doesn’t kill gay people.” An October 2025 interview with a critical outlet reports her adding “I’m not going to carry water for Netanyahu” while restating support for military aid.
Her statements from the weeks after the October 2023 attack, made as a Blue Dog Coalition co-chair, are on the research page.
Tracked votes: backed sending U.S. weapons or funding to the government of Israel in 5 of 6 recorded votes.
Research
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
- Her recorded votes on the tracked bills appear as badges on this card and point both ways: against the November 2023 standalone package, for the 2024 bills, against both cutting amendments. No located statement explains the November exception. The grounding for each sits in the record section.
- [Position, 2024-02-07] Her statement on the Israel supplemental vote, quoted on the card and in the deep dive, including “the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust” characterization and the Israelis-and-Palestinians dignity sentence. Her own House site.
- [Position, 2024-04-20] Her statement on the April votes: help Israel defend itself, replenish stockpiles, humanitarian relief to civilians in Gaza. Her own site.
- [Position, 2025-08-14] The Longview town hall, per The Chronicle and The Reflector: the liberal-democracy sentence on the card, the hostages-end-the-war point, and the not-a-diplomat remark.
- [Position, 2025-10-07, single outlet] Current Affairs’ critical profile reports her restating support for military aid with “I’m not going to carry water for Netanyahu”; the gather marks the detail uncorroborated. Carried in the deep dive with the outlet named; the outlet’s own framing is not adopted.
- [Position, 2024-10, undated page] An interview is reported in which she grounded the aid conversation in October 7 and Israel’s right to defend itself; no distinct carrier beyond the items above was supplied.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- [Position, 2024-04-20] The April statement’s humanitarian-relief pairing, above. [Position, 2024-02-07] The dignity sentence, above.
Characterization of the conflict
- [Reaction window, 2023-10-11] The Blue Dog Coalition releases: the pogrom-history characterization and the call to freeze $6 billion in Iranian assets, per her own site. Off the card (C1); the Iran content stays off the card in any case.
- [Position, 2025-08-14] The town-hall remarks above.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
- [Prior, 2023-07-17] Joined the House Democrats’ statement after Representative Jayapal’s remarks, per the lead office’s release: Israel “the only vibrant, progressive, and inclusive democracy in the region”. A joint statement, prior band. Tracked funding totals appear as a badge on this card.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
- [Prior, 2023-07-17] The same statement’s warning that anti-Zionist framing can embolden antisemitism.
- [Position, 2025-03-05] Co-sponsored the DETERRENT Act on foreign gifts to universities, per VoteWire. [Position, 2025-10-07] Co-sponsored the October 7 Remembrance Education Act, per the Washington Examiner, which does not name her in the fetched text and is recorded with that limit alongside the gather’s tracking claim.
Race and status context
- Sitting representative in a toss-up seat, advanced from the August 2026 top-two primary; identity note: her compound surname is matched in full everywhere here, per the panel’s census watch.
Also in this race: John Braun (Republican) · All Washington candidates.
See the full record →But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. Every claim on this page goes through at least two verification steps. Open the interactive card for votes, funding and contact details.