After deadly paper mill explosion, Washington state community watches pivotal House race
Following a May explosion at a Longview, Washington paper mill that killed 11 workers, the grieving community is now turning its attention to one of the nation's most closely watched congressional races in November.
On a May morning in Longview, Washington, a tank of caustic white liquor imploded at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging paper mill, killing 11 workers in one of the state's deadliest industrial accidents in nearly a century. Among the victims were brothers Tyler and Brad Covington.
Longview, a working-class city of roughly 38,000 people, has long depended on paper mills, shipping and logging for its economic identity. The explosion struck a community already grappling with mill closures and economic uncertainty.
Republican state senator Jeff Wilson, who spent more than two decades working at the mill before entering politics, praised Democratic congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez's engagement with local officials following the disaster, even as he declined to endorse her re-election bid.
Election stakes
In the August primary, Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican state senator John Braun emerged from a nine-candidate field to advance to November's general election for the district's House seat. Braun took about 39.7% of the vote, Gluesenkamp Perez 36.4%, while progressive Democrat Brent Hennrich, who argued she had drifted from party values, won 16.7%.
Some Democratic voters remain frustrated over her votes on citizenship-verification voting legislation, ICE funding, and a bill on how schools handle gender identity. Others, like incoming law student Tanner Manley, say they will still support her, pointing to her response to the Longview disaster — including backing restored funding for the federal Chemical Safety Board that investigates such incidents.
A poll from DHM Research for Oregon Public Broadcasting shows a tight race: Braun at 48%, Gluesenkamp Perez at 47%, with 5% undecided.
Neither campaign has made the explosion central to its messaging. University of Washington political scientist Mark Alan Smith noted that unifying tragedies rarely translate into partisan advantage unless a candidate actively links an opponent to a negative aspect of the event — something neither side has done so far.
