WASHINGTON — Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez on Tuesday launched a campaign ad against her Republican challenger, John Braun, accusing the state senator of seeking to limit abortion access nationwide.

Last week, the National Republican Congressional Committee — the national campaign committee dedicated to electing Republicans to the U.S. House — unveiled an ad that accuses the incumbent Democrat of backing increased taxes.

The dueling, 30-second ads, released within a week of the primary, mark the opening salvo in what is expected to be an expensive and closely watched campaign season for Southwest Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. The race is among 18 nationwide that will determine control of the U.S. House, putting a national spotlight on a district where voters have repeatedly split their support between the two parties. Gluesenkamp Perez, who is vying for a third term, is among the nation’s most vulnerable Democrats, and the GOP views Braun as an opportunity to flip a seat.

Both commercials seek to portray the opposing candidate as extreme, as Republicans and Democrats appeal to the swing district’s voters. The 3rd District has supported President Donald Trump three times, and has twice sent Gluesenkamp Perez to Congress.

Gluesenkamp Perez’s six-figure ad targets Braun for voting against a 2017 state bill requiring health plans to cover birth control and a 2025 state bill regarding emergency medical care for pregnant women. It also homes in on comments Braun made to Republicans in Pacific County in March, when he expressed support for rolling back a longtime Washington state law that legalizes abortion.

“Candidly, we are unlikely to change the law in Washington in the near future, but we should be focused … so that someday we get there,” Braun said in an excerpt played in the commercial.

Braun believes abortion laws are a matter that should be handled by the state rather than the federal government, his campaign manager Max Lavey said. “Our current state laws were enacted by an initiative and a vote of the people and it is up to us to convince the voters of our state to change the law.”

The ad fleshes out Democrats’ case against Braun, arguing that he is not a moderate and is overly loyal to Republican Party leadership. “Braun is way too extreme for Washington’s 3rd District,” said Lindsay Reilly, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the national campaign committee dedicated to electing Democrats to the U.S. House.

Meanwhile, the ad released by the NRCC targeting Gluesenkamp Perez argues that the incumbent “stood by Washington Democrats’ income tax,” referring to the state’s newly passed income tax on high earners. The ad argues the new tax will drive businesses out of the state and aligns her with “Seattle liberals.”

Republicans are seeking to peg Gluesenkamp Perez as a cloaked leftist, tying her to socialists as some have secured recent Democratic primary wins elsewhere in the nation. The incumbent “sells out Southwest Washington families to please her socialist party bosses,” said Christian Martinez, an NRCC spokesperson.

Tim Gowen, Gluesenkamp Perez’s campaign manager, said the incumbent carries a “record of clawing back power for the working class.”

“Marie is fighting to lower taxes for the middle class and level the playing field for workers and small businesses,” Gowen said.

The commercials come as the Aug. 4 primary ballot counting continues. As of Tuesday, Gluesenkamp Perez had received nearly 37% of votes and Braun had received about 40%.

Political experts have said the results ratio signals a strong position for Gluesenkamp Perez headed into the fall, as Braun only inched past the incumbent despite a split Democratic vote. Still, the race is expected to be close, as it has been in recent years.

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