(The Center Square) – Two days have passed since the general election and the race for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District is still too close to call.

U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., is the incumbent House representative in the district. She currently leads Republican challenger Joe Kent by about 12,000 votes. Just over 80% of the ballots have been counted so far.

With 100,000 to 120,000 ballots to be counted, the race remains close. Kent called on his supporters to ensure their ballots were accepted.

“It is still too early to call and there are many ballots to collect,” Kent said in a statement. social media post.

The district covers several counties in southwest Washington. The state’s fourth-largest city, Vancouver, is within the district. The city notably gained national attention after a suspect committed arson on an urndamaging 488 absentee ballots.

Gluesenkamp Pérez priorities These include providing more federal funding to increase police and fire pay to improve retention, lower the cost of housing, increase worker wages, reduce taxes for improvements to energy efficiency and increase security at America’s borders.

Kent is a Green Beret veteran and former foreign policy advisor to President-elect Donald Trump. According to his campaign websitehis bid for the House seat focuses on “restoring common-sense Republican values ​​and defeating woke extremist Democratic Rep. Marie Perez.”

The challenger’s main issues include inflation caused by the Biden administration’s overspending, crackdowns on illegal immigration and cutting off aid to Ukraine.

Kent narrowly lost to the incumbent in the 2022 general election, by a difference of around 2,600 votes.

The closeness of the race, ballot casting, and ballot harvesting can lead to ballot rigging. This is a process that helps voters correct their mailed ballots if they make a mistake.

Voters can check and ensure their ballots have been received and counted through the Washington Secretary of State’s office. website.