Joe Kent
Kent in 2021
Personal details
Born1980 (age 43–44)[1]
Sweet Home, Oregon, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 2014; died 2019)​

Heather Kaiser
​
(m. 2023)​
Children2
ResidenceYacolt, Washington
EducationNorwich University (BS)
WebsiteCampaign website
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
Years of service1998–2019
RankChief Warrant Officer III

Joe Kent (born 1980) is an American far-right political candidate and retired officer of the United States Army Special Forces.[2][3] He was the Republican nominee in the 2022 election for Washington's 3rd congressional district, having defeated incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler in the primary. He ultimately lost to Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in an upset.[4]

He is the widower of Shannon M. Kent, a United States Navy senior chief petty officer and cryptologic technician who was deployed to Syria and killed in the 2019 Manbij bombing.

Early life and military service

Shannon Kent was the wife of Joe Kent and was killed in the 2019 Manbij bombing.

Kent was born in Sweet Home, Oregon, and raised in Portland. He was a member of the Boy Scouts of America.[5]

Kent enlisted in the army at age 18 as an infantryman. He served as an officer of the United States Army Special Forces, having applied shortly before the September 11 attacks, and served 11 combat deployments.[6] While in the Army, he also worked as a paramilitary officer for the CIA.[7]

Kent stepped down from service when his wife, Shannon, was killed in the 2019 Manbij bombing.

Political candidacy

Kent announced the launch of his campaign for Washington's 3rd congressional district on February 18, 2021; he cited incumbent Republican Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler's vote in favor of the second impeachment of Donald Trump as a factor in his decision to run.[8] His candidacy was endorsed by Donald Trump and numerous other prominent figures from the Republican Party's pro-Trump wing, including Michael Flynn and Matt Gaetz.[9] During his campaign, he was a frequent guest on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Steve Bannon's show Bannon's War Room, and various programs on One America News Network and InfoWars.[10]

On August 3, 2022, Kent finished second in the nonpartisan primary for the congressional race, advancing to the general election against Democratic candidate Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. Herrera Beutler finished third in the primary; she did not endorse Kent.[11][12]

In what was widely considered a major upset, with FiveThirtyEight having given Kent 98 in 100 odds of winning,[13] Kent lost the election to Perez. He subsequently said he would not concede until "every legal vote is counted".[14] Kent ultimately conceded on December 21, following a recount.[15]

On January 11, 2023, Kent announced he would be running again for the same House seat in 2024, saying that Perez "votes in lockstep [with] the radical left's agenda that's crushing working families" in his announcement.[16]

Blanket primary results[17]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Marie Gluesenkamp Perez 68,190 31.0
Republican Joe Kent 50,097 22.8
Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler (incumbent) 49,001 22.3
Republican Heidi St. John 35,219 16.0
Republican Vicki Kraft 7,033 3.2
Democratic Davy Ray 4,870 2.2
Independent Chris Byrd 3,817 1.7
Republican Leslie French 1,100 0.5
American Solidarity Oliver Black 456 0.2
Write-in 142 0.1
Total votes 219,925 100.0
2022 Washington's 3rd congressional district election[18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Marie Gluesenkamp Perez 160,314 50.14
Republican Joe Kent 157,685 49.31
Write-in 1,760 0.55
Total votes 319,759 100.0

Political views

Kent has been characterized as a far-right politician.[19][20] Kent has labeled his political philosophy as "inclusive populism", with a spokesman stating that it "rejects racism and bigotry" while promoting an "America First agenda".[21]

Kent made false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump a focus of his 2022 campaign. He labeled the perpetrators of the January 6 United States Capitol attack as "political prisoners" and spoke at a rally in defense of them organized by his top adviser. He supports impeaching Joe Biden and - in the wake of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago - Merrick Garland.[4]

In a September 2022 debate against Perez, Kent said that he was unvaccinated and that the COVID-19 vaccines are "experimental gene therapy".[22][23]

Kent considers himself a non-interventionist, citing his military experience and the death of his wife. He said that he lost many friends and his wife due to "our ruling class - Republicans and Democrats - consistently [having] lied to the American people to keep us engaged in wars abroad".[24]

Affiliations with far-right groups

Kent's 2022 campaign was endorsed early on by prominent white nationalist commentator Nick Fuentes. Fuentes had partaken in a call with Kent discussing social media strategy; Kent said that he had no further contact with Fuentes after the call and rejected Fuentes's endorsement.[25]

At the urging of a Republican competitor, Kent made an explicit disavowal of Fuentes's support of his campaign in the wake of Fuentes's praise of Vladimir Putin over the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[25]

Graham Jorgensen, a member of the neo-fascist organization Proud Boys, was employed as a consultant for Kent's 2022 campaign. Joey Gibson, founder of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, has also been linked to Kent; Gibson heavily promoted Kent's campaign on social media and spoke at a fundraiser for Kent, in which Kent praised Gibson for "defend[ing] this community when our community was under assault from antifa".[26]

In September 2022, Andrew Kaczynski of CNN unearthed an interview from June 2022 between Kent and Greyson Arnold, a neo-Nazi YouTube streamer. A spokesman for Kent's campaign said that Kent was unaware of who Arnold was and assumed he was a local journalist.[27]

Kent served a legal notice in September 2023 to The Chronicle, a newspaper in Centralia, Washington, that requested a retraction of the newspaper's reporting of a March 2022 town hall meeting. Kent stated that the reporting included defamatory statements regarding whether or not he agreed with viewpoints brought forth by members of the audience that promoted white nationalism.[28]

References

  1. ↑ Lee, Lafayette (August 30, 2022). "Joe Kent: Our Generation's War". IM—1776. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
  2. ↑ Grisales, Claudia (November 7, 2022). "A Washington congressional district is weighing the election of a far-right candidate". NPR. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  3. ↑ Watson, Evan (October 6, 2022). "A closer look at the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for US House seat in southwest Washington". KGW. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  4. 1 2 McCausland, Phil (November 12, 2022). "Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez defeats MAGA Republican Joe Kent, flipping key Washington House seat". NBC News. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  5. ↑ "JOE KENT GREEN BERET".
  6. ↑ "About Joe". Joe Kent. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  7. ↑ Weisman, Jonathan (October 15, 2022). "New Generation of Combat Vets, Eyeing House, Strike From the Right". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  8. ↑ Vance, Ken (February 21, 2021). "US Army veteran Joe Kent throws his hat in ring for Washington's 3rd Congressional District seat". ClarkCountyToday.com. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  9. ↑ Yaw, Claudia (September 7, 2021). "Joe Kent rides waves of endorsements at rally with Matt Gaetz". The Reflector. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  10. ↑ Brunner, Jim (November 4, 2022). "Congressional candidate Joe Kent wants to rewrite history of Jan. 6 attack". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  11. ↑ "August 2, 2022 Primary Results - CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 3". Secretary of State of Washington. August 2, 2022. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  12. ↑ Gutman, David (November 15, 2022). "How did Marie Gluesenkamp Perez pull off the upset of the year in Southwest WA?". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  13. ↑ Graham, David A. (November 14, 2022). "The House Race That Shows Why Republicans Collapsed in the Midterms". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  14. ↑ Brynelson, Troy (November 14, 2022). "Facing defeat, Joe Kent campaign looks to 'cure' challenged ballots". opb. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  15. ↑ "GOP's Joe Kent concedes Washington state Congressional race". AP NEWS. December 22, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  16. ↑ Sumrall, Frank (January 11, 2023). "Joe Kent announces 2024 House campaign against 'woke extremist'". MyNorthwest.com. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
  17. ↑ "August 2, 2022 Primary Results - CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 3". Secretary of State of Washington. August 2, 2022. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  18. ↑ "November 8, 2022 General Election Results - CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 3". Secretary of State of Washington. November 15, 2022. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  19. ↑ Grisales, Claudia (November 7, 2022). "A Washington congressional district is weighing the election of a far-right candidate". NPR. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  20. ↑ Watson, Evan (October 6, 2022). "A closer look at the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for US House seat in southwest Washington". KGW. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  21. ↑ Slodysko, Brian (July 27, 2022). "GOP's links to extremism surface in congressional primary". AP NEWS. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  22. ↑ Evan Watson (October 6, 2022). "A closer look at the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for US House seat in southwest Washington". kgw.com. Retrieved March 24, 2023. Kent said the COVID-19 vaccine is "experimental gene therapy," that he opposes any vaccination requirements and wants to defund the FBI.
  23. ↑ Lanard, Noah (October 5, 2022). "Joe Kent's forever war". Mother Jones. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  24. ↑ La Corte, Rachel (October 12, 2022). "Washington House seat in play amid increased polarization". AP. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  25. 1 2 Brynelson, Troy (March 7, 2022). "Congressional candidate Joe Kent distances from white nationalist amid social media spat". opb. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  26. ↑ Slodysko, Brian (July 27, 2022). "GOP's links to extremism surface in congressional primary". AP. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  27. ↑ Kaczynski, Andrew; Steck, Em (September 30, 2022). "GOP congressional candidate Joe Kent's ties to white nationalists include interview with Nazi sympathizer | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  28. ↑ Roland, Mitchell (September 5, 2023). "The Chronicle stands by coverage after attorney for Joe Kent threatens legal action over 2022 article". The Chronicle. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
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