The Republican candidate sits down with Chris Brown to talk about the upcoming election, and her goals if re-elected
CLARK COUNTY — If Jaime Herrera Beutler is going to win a fifth term as Washington’s 3rd Congressional District representative, she’ll have to overcome her most daunting opponent yet. We’re not talking about WSU Vancouver political science professor Carolyn Long, although she has proven to be a formidable challenger to the incumbent Republican. We’re talking about what could be the most politically charged midterm elections in recent memory.
It’s tempting to say the 3rd Congressional District has slowly trended towards the blue as Vancouver and Clark County populations have grown. But the Southwest Washington district has, historically, walked the line between Democrat and Republican. Herrera Beutler followed Brian Baird, a Democrat, after Baird retired in 2011. Baird followed Linda Smith, a two-term Republican.
So far Herrera Beutler has managed to hold onto her seat since winning in 2010 with at least 60 percent of the vote in each election. But a recent New York Times poll showed her with just a seven percentage vote lead over Long, 48 to 41 percent, with 11 percent still undecided.
Long has played up her political outsider status, even including a recipe for rhubarb jam on her campaign website. Despite that, Long has actually managed to raise more money than Herrera Beutler. According to OpenSecrets.org, Long has raised over a million dollars more than the incumbent. She has also received more small donations than Herrera Beutler.
At a League of Women Voters forum during the primary, Long said she had vowed not to take corporate donations as part of her campaign. The Open Secrets page does list donations from Nike, Microsoft, Amazon.com, and others. Herrera Beutler’s top corporate donations came from DaVita, Weyerhaeuser, and Fisher Investments.
NOTE: Candidate Long was offered the chance to also sit down with ClarkCountyToday.com for a one-on-one interview. We were told that her schedule would not allow it. You can see comments from Long at a previous forum in Woodland where she and Herrera Beutler answered questions. ClarkCountyToday.com was there. You can also watch an interview conducted by Marvin Case for CVTV.org with both candidates here.
You can view Jaime Herrera Beutler’s campaign page here.
