The first debate for Washington's 3rd Congressional District between Republican Joe Kent and Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez took place Tuesday night and there was a common theme with the Democrat's answers.
During the roughly hour and a half debate between Kent and Perez, one couldn't help but notice Perez kept falling back to one main thing when it was her turn answer almost every question: Her job as the owner of an auto repair shop. Kent's main job experience prior to entering politics was serving in the Army's special forces and the CIA, leaving active duty service after his wife, Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent, was killed in an ISIS attack in Syria.
It is not unusual for people who have not been in office before, which applies to both Kent and Perez, to draw from their past experiences as reasons to have voters support them, but Tuesday's night debate highlighted how much Perez rests on her job to answer questions.
Townhall reviewed the entire debate and counted Perez mentioning her job as a small business owner or working in trade at least 18 times, the first time being at the beginning during the candidate's opening statement. In contrast, Kent only mentioned his military service 9 times, the first time being around 27 minutes into the debate.
With questions relating to the economy, voting for omnibus bills, learning from the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and among others, Perez managed to bring up her auto shop.
"I would like to just pause for a minute and acknowledge one million Americans lost their lives during COVID and that 3,000 medical providers died, either when vaccines weren't available, they kept showing up to work," Perez began.
"The past two years have been hell for so many of us. Essential workers, you know, you can not fix cars over Zoom, I'm here to tell you," she added.
"The [Affordable Care Act] was passed in 2009 and it needs a tune up. I just happen to be in the business of tuning things up," Perez said about her view on fixing the healthcare system.
When asked how the candidates would work to with other members of Congress to pass meaningful legislation, Perez touted how she is not "your typical Democrat, I am here to tell you. I work in the trades."
Perez's shop even went on to be a source of tension within the debate when Kent brought up how her business was willing to provide repairs for leaf blowers when they been heavily used during the 2020 Antifa riots outside the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse. Antifa rioters would use the leaf blowers to blow away tear gas deployed by federal law enforcement in an effort to disperse the rioting crowd night after night.
On the Facebook livestream, people watching the debate also noticed the number of times Perez mentioned her business.
"She’s gonna go to DC and talk about auto parts," one Facebook user wrote.
"She is a joke! I know more about brakes and cars now[,] thanks Marie," another posted.
"I think this was a [PSA] for her body shop," one woman wrote.
Kent mainly brought up his military service when the questions were relating to foreign policy, along with mentioning his experience in Army taught him how bridge the gap between grunt work and management.