WA state Democrats: Burn heretics or win converts?
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Democrats in Washington continue to flirt with self-immolation. With burning heretics. With being overwhelmed by inflammatory idealism rather than cool reasoning.
And when it comes to the race in the 3rd Congressional District, they risk being burned in a fire of their own making.
We are reminded of this by reports from the recent state Democratic Party convention in Spokane. Listing four takeaways from the event, Jerry Cornfield of Washington State Standard included an item about Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who has managed to go from political novice to two-term Democratic congressional representative in a district that voted for Donald Trump three times.
Typically, one would think, such a political interloper would be celebrated by her party. But as Democrats slog through a civil war between progressives and moderates, Perez is not Democratic enough for some voters.
Among her offenses, Cornfield writes, was voting last month for the Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act, which would ban schools from using federal funds to teach concepts related to gender ideology. The bill passed the House 217-198 with help from eight Democrats — all from swing districts — and is awaiting action in the Senate.
That was enough to bring out the metaphorical torches at the state convention. Progressives pushed a resolution to condemn Perez for the vote, saying the legislation would contribute to the “genocide” of trans children. Her vote “aided and abetted and effectuated this genocide. Condemn her vote,” Guinevere Dinsmore, the resolution’s author, urged delegates.
The resolution failed, 383-377. But the issue — and the close vote — demonstrates the conundrums facing Democrats in Southwest Washington and beyond.
One of those is the characterization that gender identity issues conflate to “genocide” — phraseology that turns an ember into an inferno. It is the same kind of inflammatory language — such as calling a bill the Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act — that provides fuel for critics who seek to portray the other side as radicals.
Another is the need to choose your battles wisely. Opposing harmful legislation and promoting important policies and developing strategies for winning elections is an important part of party conventions. Rebuking one of your own should not be on the agenda — unless you choose to ignore the big picture.
Cornfield reports that Terri Niles “opposed the congresswoman’s vote but said passing the resolution ‘doesn’t help hold a critical seat’ in a Republican-leaning district. To be progressive means to pursue progress, and in that district, ‘progress comes from electing a Democrat that can actually win. The alternative is not a more progressive Democrat. The alternative is a Republican taking this seat.’ “
Niles knows something about election politics; she ran for state representative from the 17th District in 2024, losing by less than 1 percentage point to Republican David Stuebe. Then again, anybody who has watched the 3rd Congressional District for the past decade or so should have the same understanding.
A while back, local Republicans decided that Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler wasn’t Republican enough for them. At one point, the congresswoman wittily fired back: “A movement can’t grow if it is more concerned with burning heretics than winning converts.” But after several years of criticizing and chastising and censuring Herrera Beutler, far-right Republicans succeeded in defeating her in the 2022 primary with Joe Kent.
The result? They lost a seat that had been in GOP hands since 2010.
That is a history that Democrats should heed. Instead, they seem determined to allow party divisions to distract from the tasks at hand — fighting the common enemy and attempting to win converts. They seem determined to burn heretics.
Perez might or might not advance out of the primary; the frustration of progressives is palpable. But replacing her with a challenger from the left would certainly be a Pyrrhic victory.
