“I AM ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THAT WE WILL WIN”
CAMAS, WA – Yesterday, the Chronicle released the second half of its wide-ranging profile on Leslie Lewallen, Camas City Council Member and Republican candidate for Washington’s Third Congressional District. In this installment, Leslie was candid about the pregnancy complication that almost cost her her life, and why she feels like the conversation around abortion needs to change. Leslie also made the case for why 2022 was Joe Kent’s best shot and why WA-03 needs a new leader with a proven track record of winning to take on Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
Leslie Lewallen says abortion discussion needs more focus on compassion
By: Julie McDonald, The Chronicle
. . . “I’m running right now because we should never have lost the seat,” said Lewallen, 49, an attorney and Camas City Council member. “If we lose the seat again, we could lose it forever. And this seat could determine whether Republicans keep the majority in the House of Representatives.”
. . .Lewallen described the freshman Democratic incumbent as a “tax-and-spend liberal.”
“She seems to go on all these victory tours about how much more money she’s spending when we have a $34 trillion debt right now,” Lewallen said. “That’s not helping the American people by spending more money. What we need is somebody that can come in and start making these cuts right away. Because I want a better America for my children and my future grandchildren. And the way that we’re spending money right now, it’s not sustainable.”
Lewallen, who said she’s been open about her occupation and financing, described herself as personally pro-life while allowing exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.
“But I do think the narrative and the conversations around this subject need to change,” she said. “We need to be more compassionate.”
With her fourth child, Lewallen nearly died. The baby flatlined.
. . . She’s glad it didn’t come down to saving her life or the baby’s, but it could have.
“Given what happened to me, my heart goes out to other families who have these situations that really impact the way that they view this issue,” Lewallen said.
She also recalled . . . suffering a miscarriage during her second trimester. Her baby’s heartbeat stopped but the baby didn’t pass on its own, so she needed a D&C, or dilation and curettage surgical procedure.
. . . During the 2022 campaign, when Gluesenkamp Perez said she had a miscarriage that required an abortion, Lewallen grew infuriated with her conflating a D&C with an abortion, which stops a beating heart.
“Miscarriage is vastly different than an abortion, and I found it offensive,” Lewallen said. “It was a slap in the face to a lot of women who have really struggled with a miscarriage and had to have a D&C. But she purposely said abortion, and I didn’t like that.”
. . . “So I’ve been faced with a lot of these questions and a lot of these tough decisions that women have to face,” she said, adding that the abortion narrative offends her. “I think we really need to help women and their needs. The shame needs to be lifted from a lot of things.”
. . . “I’m giving people an alternative,” she said. “Like I said, Joe ran and lost in 2022. That was his best shot. He’s going to lose again, given the history. We need to pick somebody that’s a fresh new face with a proven track record of winning, that has the resume and the knowledge of the local issues that can hit the ground running and actually work to fix things. I want to go there, fix the problems, hop on a plane and get back to my family. I’m not there for performative politics.“I would never have entered this race if I didn’t think I had a clear path for victory. And I am absolutely certain that we will win.”
To learn more about Leslie, click here.
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