Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), who voted against legislation funding the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2023, later told constituents she was “going to war with the VA” and was confronted by a voter over that funding vote in newly uncovered town hall videos obtained by KVI.
The footage is drawing new scrutiny to the southwest Washington Democrat’s record on veterans’ healthcare in a district where nearly 53,000 veterans reside, and as she faces Republican challenger John Braun, a retired Navy captain with 31 years of military service.
EXCLUSIVE: In 2023 Marie Gluesenkamp Perez voted against fully funding the VA
During a town hall, when asked why she voted against funding hospitals for veterans, MGP said she was "going to war with the VA"
WA-03 has 52,990 veterans, or 8.4% of the district pic.twitter.com/LosBuCryy5
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) September 2, 2026
Gluesenkamp Perez voted against the House Republican Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill in July 2023. The legislation ultimately passed the House largely along party lines with Democrats opposing the bill.
Not a single Democrat voted to FULLY FUND THE VA! pic.twitter.com/wOzkIKsa0s
— House Appropriations (@HouseAppropsGOP) July 27, 2023
In one of the videos, Gluesenkamp Perez declared she was “going to war with the VA.” In the other, a constituent pressed her to explain how she could say she opposed defunding the VA while voting against legislation providing VA funding.
“I’m not mad at anybody for thinking that I voted against the VA because if you just look at the headlines, like that’s the impression you’re going to get,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
EXCLUSIVE: When asked why she voted against funding VA hospitals, Rep Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) became agitated at a constituent, then implied it wasn't worth her time to draft legislation to fund Veterans Health, and that doing so would be "virtue signaling." https://t.co/oC4IDmQodw pic.twitter.com/Epx0li7LIx
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) September 2, 2026
When the constituent asked whether voting against the legislation meant voting against giving the VA the money, Gluesenkamp Perez responded: “The bill passed.”
The constituent pressed her again: “I know, but wouldn’t defunding them mean supporting it — defunding them, if you voted against giving them the money?”
Gluesenkamp Perez said she opposed the legislation because it did not fund the VA at the level lawmakers had previously agreed upon.
“If they come to the floor with a vote that doesn’t support them to the level we agreed to, I’m not going to, you know, I’m not going to help it move forward,” she said. “I want a better bill where it’s actually adequately funding the VA.”
Asked whether she had proposed such a bill herself, Gluesenkamp Perez declined to continue the back-and-forth and said Democrats being in the House minority limited what legislation she could bring to the floor.
“I can propose every bill I want,” she said. “I can spend all my staff time getting perfect bills in a written form to the floor. But if I can’t, I can’t get them to the floor by myself.”
Gluesenkamp Perez then characterized drafting such legislation as a potential exercise in “virtue signaling.”
“I can spend staff time getting amendments to the floor, like accountability for the VA, or I can spend staff time virtue signaling the perfect bill,” she said.
The exchanges could prove politically damaging in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, where veterans represent a large constituency.
According to Census data, approximately 52,990 veterans live in WA-03, accounting for 8.4 percent of the district, roughly 20 percent above Washington’s statewide rate and approximately 1.4 times the national rate.
Gluesenkamp Perez is facing a Republican challenger with more than three decades of military service. Braun is a retired U.S. Navy captain who served 31 years, including seven years on active duty in the submarine force and more than two decades in the Navy Reserve. He held six commands, with his final assignment as director of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Reserve Component. Three of his four adult children have also served or are currently serving as commissioned officers in the Navy or Marine Corps.
Recent polling has shown the race highly competitive. A July Emerson College Polling survey conducted for the progressive Northwest Progressive Institute had Braun leading Gluesenkamp Perez 43-42 among likely November voters, while an April Co/efficient poll commissioned by the National Republican Congressional Committee gave Braun a larger 41-34 advantage. The Republican poll also found Gluesenkamp Perez viewed favorably by just 20 percent of respondents and unfavorably by 50 percent.
Braun then finished ahead of Gluesenkamp Perez in the August top-two primary, approximately 40 percent to 37 percent, an embarrassing showing for the two-term incumbent.
The Republican National Committee blasted Gluesenkamp Perez over the footage and her voting record.
“Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s fake rural act masks an incredible disdain for elderly veterans and a disturbing track record of voting to make life harder for our nation’s heroes,” RNC spokesman Nick Poche told KVI.
“She becomes startlingly incoherent when asked why — because there are no answers that don’t reveal her far-left anti-military mindset.”
Gluesenkamp Perez also voted against the Republican-backed legislation that established the Rural Health Transformation Program, which is delivering approximately $181 million to Washington in its first year to support rural hospitals, clinics and healthcare providers.
She has also expressed support for increasing the amount of income subject to Social Security payroll taxes, while presenting herself as a champion of working-class voters.
The controversies come as Gluesenkamp Perez’s carefully cultivated working-class persona falls apart.
Recent reporting has challenged her account of struggling financially after being cut off by her father. Property records reportedly show her father later loaned her between $24,000 and $47,999 toward the purchase of her first property.
A former roommate also alleged that Gluesenkamp Perez failed to pay even $50 to $75 per month in rent and at one point attempted to barter dumpster-dived food, including rotten avocados, instead of cash.
Other reporting examining her years at Portland’s Reed College has uncovered a very different image from the rural moderate she now presents to voters. Old social-media posts and accounts from former associates reportedly tied Gluesenkamp Perez to a “Latex Fetish Ball,” nude and drug-related events and an LSD giveaway. Former associates have also made allegations about her use of nitrous-oxide “whippets” and marijuana sales.