Lorena González (Seattle politician)

2015 election

In 2015, González ran for the ninth position on the Seattle City Council after Sally J. Clark dropped her reelection bid for one of the two remaining at-large seats on the council.^[6] She left her job in the Murray administration to campaign full-time.^[6] In the August primary, González came in first, with 65% of the vote, and advanced to the general election with community activist Bill Bradford.^[11][12]

González and Bradford both ran as progressives, and both candidates criticized the city's growth and lack of affordability.^[12][13] Bradford accused González of being in a cabal of "unfettered capitalists," while González said Bradford focused to narrowly on city growth plans.^[12][13] González received a wide range of endorsements from business groups, labor unions, Mayor Murray and The Stranger, while Bradford received endorsements from some Democrat leaders.^[1][12][14]

In the November general election González defeated Bradford, 78% to 21%.^[15][16]

2017 election

In 2017, González ran for reelection and faced six challengers in the primary, which included a supermarket cashier, a homeless person, a South Seattle neighborhood activist, and a quixotic blogger.^[7][17] The King County Labor Council, King County Democrats, the political arm of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Planned Parenthood and the Sierra Club endorsed her.^[17] In the August primary election, González came in first, with 64.17% of the vote, and advanced to the general election with president of the Mount Baker Community Club Pat Murakami, who earned 19.71%.^[17]

González focused her campaign on her record on the city council, including her work on police reform, her championing of a $1 million legal-defense fund for immigrants and refugees facing deportation, and her role in helping establish a city-paid family leave policy.^[18] Murakami criticized González in her role as chair of the public safety committee, saying the council was too slow on adopting police body cameras, and failing to negotiate a new police contract.^[18]

In the November general election, Gonzalez defeated Murakami, 70.75% to 28.87%.^[19][20]

Tenure

Gonzalez took office on November 24, 2015, and replaced John Okamoto, who was temporarily on the council after Clark resigned to take a job at the University of Washington.^[21] González was the first Latina to be elected to the council.^[1] She was selected as the Council President in January 2020, succeeding Bruce Harrell.^[22]

While on the council, González advanced legislation that created scheduling protections for retail and restaurant workers and legislation that backed workload restrictions for hotel workers.^[23][24] Other progressive legislation that she pushed for included funding legal defense for immigrants and an expanded subsidized pre-school program. She also co-wrote a gun storage law.^[23]

On policing, González passed a 2017 police oversight reform law, but in 2018, she supported a 2018 contract that undermined those reforms.^[23][24] As public safety chair, she approved multiple police budget increases, but in 2020, supported a 50% reduction in the police budget in response to Black Lives Matter protestors.^[23] The council passed a 20% reduction in the police budget, which González supported.^[25]

González was a supporter of the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign.^[26]