Congresswoman Suzan DelBene represents Washington’s 1st Congressional District, which spans from northeast King County to the Canadian border and includes parts of King, Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom counties.
First sworn into the House of Representatives in November 2012, Suzan brings a unique voice to the nation’s capital with more than two decades of experience as a successful technology entrepreneur and business leader.
Suzan takes on a wide range of challenges both in Congress and in the 1st District. She is a leader on issues of technology, health care, trade, taxes, environmental conservation, and agriculture, and is a champion for working families.
She currently serves as the Vice Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is at the forefront of the debate on a fairer tax code, health care reform, trade deals, and lasting retirement security. She serves on the Select Revenue Measures and Trade Subcommittees.
Suzan also serves as Chair of the forward-thinking New Democrat Coalition and is co-chair of the Women's High-Tech Coalition, Internet of Things Caucus, and Dairy Caucus. She is also a member of the Pro-Choice Caucus.
Suzan spent part of her early childhood in Newport Hills and Mercer Island before her father lost his job. After fourth grade, her family moved all over the country in search of work. Through hard work and financial aid, she earned her BA in biology from Reed College.
She started her career in immunology research before earning an MBA from the University of Washington and embarking on a successful career as a technology leader and innovator. Over more than two decades as an executive and entrepreneur, she helped to start drugstore.com as Vice President of Marketing and Store Development and served as CEO and President of Nimble Technology, a business software company based on technology developed at the University of Washington. Suzan also spent 12 years at Microsoft, most recently as corporate vice president of the company’s mobile communications business.
Before being elected to Congress, Suzan served as Director of the Washington State Department of Revenue. During her tenure, she proposed reforms to cut red tape for small businesses. She also enacted an innovative tax amnesty program that generated $345 million to help close the state’s budget gap while easing the burden on small businesses.
Suzan’s mix of real-world experience in the private and public sector gives her a deep understanding of how to build successful businesses, create jobs, implement real fiscal accountability, and adopt policies that provide individuals with access to opportunity.
Some of Suzan’s priorities include:
- Making sure that every American has the opportunity to succeed and is treated fairly in society.
- Protecting Washington jobs and families.
- Preserving our future by taking on issues around climate change, data privacy, and rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure.
- Ensuring that all Americans have access to quality health care at an affordable price.
Some of Suzan’s accomplishments include:
- Championing the expanded Child Tax Credit to provide working families with monthly support and help rebuild our middle class. Suzan continues to fight to make this benefit permanent, a long-term investment that is estimated to cut childhood poverty in half.
- Fighting to expand affordable housing production by strengthening the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC). The enhanced tax credit is estimated to build or preserve an estimated 2 million more affordable units nationwide over the next 10 years and over 66,000 affordable housing units in Washington state.
- Passing the National Landslide Preparedness Act to help save lives, protect communities and property, and improve natural disaster emergency preparedness in honor of the 2014 Oso Landslide.
- Extending how long state, local, and tribal governments can use CARES Act funding to help support the public health response to COVID-19 and pay police, firefighters, teachers, and other essential workers.
- Securing $200 million to expand job-training opportunities, including $22 million for Washington.
- Expanding the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and protecting Illabot Creek.
- Expanding access to mental health telemedicine for seniors on Medicare.
- Fighting to secure emergency funding for Skagit Valley to immediately rebuild the I-5 bridge after it collapsed in May 2013.
- Creating community-based substance use diversion programs to help address the opioid epidemic.
Suzan and her husband, Kurt DelBene, have two children, Becca and Zach, and a dog named Reily.
