Gluesenkamp Perez feels heat at town hall

Constituents slam Skamania Democrat for voting with Republicans

By Alexis Weisend, Staff writer

May 1, 2025 8:00 am

Government, News

Audience members listen to U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, answer questions Thursday during a town hall at the Luepke Center in central Vancouver. Hundreds of constituents lined up for the event with signs expressing their anger over Perez’s voting record. (Photos by Taylor Balkom/The Columbian)

U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, walks on stage to boos and sign-waving Thursday, April 24, 2025, during a town hall at the Luepke Center in central Vancouver. (Photos by Taylor Balkom/The Columbian)

Hundreds of people line up for a town hall with U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez on Thursday, April 24, 2025, at the Luepke Center in central Vancouver.

People who could not fit inside gather outside to protest Thursday during a town hall with U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, at the Luepke Center in central Vancouver. (Taylor Balkom/The Columbian)

Audience members react Thursday during a town hall with U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, at the Luepke Center in central Vancouver. (Taylor Balkom/The Columbian)

An audience members yells Thursday during a town hall with U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, at the Luepke Center in central Vancouver. (Taylor Balkom/The Columbian)

A person holds up a sign while waiting in line for a town hall with Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez on Thursday in Vancouver.

U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez speaks to a crowd Thursday during a town hall at the Luepke Center in central Vancouver.

At right: An audience member shouts at Perez during Thursday’s event.

An audience member waves a sign toward US Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez (WA-03) as she leaves a town hall Thursday, April 24, 2025, at Marshall/Luepke Community Center. Hundreds of constituents lined up for the event with signs expressing their displeasure at the voting record of Perez. (Taylor Balkom/The Columbian)

A line of more than 500 people wrapped around the Luepke Center in central Vancouver for U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s April 24 town hall. Most of them were there to criticize the Skamania Democrat for siding with Republicans on recent controversial votes. Many of them had voted for her.

Her vote for the SAVE Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections but that critics say could disenfranchise millions, was “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said David Terry, 78, who attended the town hall.

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