In the early hours of an August morning in Tacoma, Washington, a political ascent and a moment of human failing collided on a quiet street. Krista Perez, a Democrat who had just won her primary for a state House seat, was arrested for DUI after her truck struck a chain of parked cars — leaving voters in the 29th Legislative District to weigh a candidate's promise against her stumble before the general election has even begun. The incident raises a question as old as democratic governance itself: how much grace, and how much accountability, do citizens extend to those who seek to represent them