MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
In the last election, voters in the Pacific Northwest sent three freshmen Latina members to Congress, and they are not all from one party. The region is often presumed to offer easy wins for Democrats, but downballot races are actually a much stronger shade of purple. NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales has more.
CLAUDIA GRISALES, BYLINE: If you look at a typical political map of the United States, Oregon and Washington look safely blue. Neither state has voted for a Republican for president since 1984. But Oregon Congresswoman Andrea Salinas, a Democrat, says it's a different story downballot.
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ANDREA SALINAS: We're all feeling like we're scraping tooth and nail to - you know, to get ahead.
GRISALES: That's the freshman member on the campaign trail. She represents the state's largest concentration of Latino residents. And her 6th Congressional District is one of the closest races in the country, and she's fighting for resources to keep her seat.
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SALINAS: We are not a battleground state. And so when you have a presidential election happening, the battleground states really get the most attention.
GRISALES: She's not alone. She's also part of an Oregon duo who made history as the first Latina members to represent their state in Congress.
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting) LCD, LCD.
GRISALES: Next door, at a hyped-up rally in the state's 5th Congressional District, Republican Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer is facing nearly identical dynamics, and she has a grave warning for supporters.
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LORI CHAVEZ-DEREMER: This race is going to be close, within the margin of error. Don't think for one minute it's not going to come down to just a few thousand votes that are going to separate us.
GRISALES: She flipped her district red in 2022, making it a key target for Republicans' efforts to keep control of the House. She's facing off against a popular Democratic state lawmaker who wants to flip the district back. But Chavez-DeRemer tells NPR she's used her time in Congress to deliver money and jobs to this district.
CHAVEZ-DEREMER: Yeah, it's important for Oregonians. So they're going to get out and vote. I'm looking forward to visiting with everybody, and we're going to win this thing.
GRISALES: She also has a major ally backing her at this Oregon city rally - House Speaker Mike Johnson, who's made multiple visits here.
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MIKE JOHNSON: The most important races, where I am, is reserved for the end of the cycle.
GRISALES: Another one of those Johnson stops comes an hour north, in Washington's 3rd Congressional District, where a similar dynamic is at play. It's represented by another Latina freshman incumbent, but she's a Democrat that Johnson hopes is ousted by a Republican opponent. Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez staged one of the House's biggest flips in the last election cycle in deep Republican country near Vancouver.
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MARIE GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: This seat was drawn to be a red seat.
GRISALES: That's Gluesenkamp Perez during a stop on her RV tour. Her contested seat in southwest Washington shares another trend in this area - a district closely divided along urban and rural lines. Her Republican opponent, retired Army Green Beret Joe Kent, says the party is on track to get the district back, with help from having former President Donald Trump on the ticket.
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JOE KENT: The Republican Party here learned a lot of hard lessons in 2022.
GRISALES: That's Kent at a recent candidate forum. He says Republicans have presented a unified front.
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KENT: If we spend an exorbitant amount of time and money destroying each other, that can cost us.
GRISALES: For her part, Gluesenkamp Perez has kept her own party at arm's length, issuing early warnings about President Biden's failed reelection bid and avoiding endorsement talk on Vice President Harris. She argues, too often, national politics eclipses local needs in her district - a common refrain here.
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GLUESENKAMP PEREZ: In rural communities, we have felt really frustrated about how much oxygen these national races get, and it feels like it's at the expense of the local issues.
GRISALES: These three members of Congress say party loyalty is not the way to win in their districts. It comes down to individual candidates breaking through to voters on local issues and connecting on identity.
Claudia Grisales, NPR News, the Pacific Northwest.
(SOUNDBITE OF KHRUANGBIN SONG, "PEOPLE EVERYWHERE (STILL ALIVE)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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