About Councilmember Lorena González

Leadership: Council President
Council district: 9
Constituents: Citywide
In office since: 2016
Current term: 2018-2022

As one of two at-large (citywide) representatives and the first Latinx elected to serve the Seattle City Council, Councilmember M. Lorena González has over a decade of experience as a civil rights attorney and community advocate. She is a nationally-recognized civil rights leader. In 2020, she was elected by her colleagues to serve her first term as Council President through 2021.

"For me, equity and affordability issues aren’t political—they’re personal, rooted in my journey from a migrant farmworker raised in a bilingual immigrant home to a civil rights attorney and activist."

Before joining the Seattle City Council, Councilmember González was a partner at Schroeter Goldmark & Bender, the region's largest plaintiff's law firm. Her practice focused on representing people who were victimized by those in authority positions. She primarily represented workers in wage theft and anti-discrimination cases as well as representing victims of police misconduct and sexual abuse.

Councilmember González has been recognized locally and nationally for her work in and out of the courtroom and has been awarded multiple recognitions.

Councilmember González has served on various local, regional and national non-profit boards, including OneAmerica, OneAmerica Votes, UnidosUS, Northwest Area Foundation, Latina/o Bar Association of Washington, and Washington State Association for Justice. She's also a founding member of the National Advisory Committee for the Latino Victory Project—a national movement that builds power in the Latinx community so that the faces and voices of Latinos are reflected at every level of government and in the policies that drive our country forward.

Councilmember González has also served as co-chair to Casa Latina's Capital Campaign, helping that organization raise $4 million dollars to build a state of the art day laborer and worker education center in the Little Saigon neighborhood of Seattle.

Born and raised in Washington's lower Yakima Valley to a Spanish-speaking migrant farmworker family, Councilmember González earned her first paycheck at the age of 8, alongside her parents and five siblings. She relied on scholarships and worked three jobs to attend community college and later Washington State University.

She moved to Seattle in 2002 to attend Seattle University Law School, where she graduated with honors in 2005. Since moving to Seattle, Councilmember González has lived in Capitol Hill, First Hill, Ballard, South Park and White Center. She currently lives in the West Seattle Junction neighborhood (District 1) with her husband and their one-year old daughter, Nadia Luciana.

Since being elected in 2015, she’s spearheaded the following legislation and initiatives:

• Ban on the practice of “conversion therapy” on minors;
• Secure scheduling for thousands of low-wage workers in large retail and restaurant industry;
• $1 million for a Legal Defense Network for immigrants and refugees facing immigration proceedings, including deportation;
• Meaningful and community-driven police accountability and reform ordinance;
• Resolutions supporting the City of Seattle’s status as a Welcoming City to immigrants and refugees;
• Requiring responsible gun owners to safely store their firearms when a firearm is not in the owner’s immediate possession;
• Expansion of paid parental leave and addition of paid family leave to all City of Seattle municipal employees; and,
• Advocating for the passage of a statewide Paid Family & Medical Leave Insurance Program (effective January 1, 2020).
• Strengthened the City’s birth to five initiatives by expanding Play and Learn programming, parent child home visiting program, significant expansion of the Seattle Preschool Program serving Seattle families with children aged 3 to 4 years old;
• Co-Chaired the City’s Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy Select Committee where she created the City’s first investments to address student homelessness, the City’s first investments in educator diversity, and increased Seattle’s investments in enrichment learning of K-12 students and expansion of Seattle Promise to provide graduating public high school seniors access to free tuition at Seattle Colleges;
• Banned foreign-influenced corporate donations in Seattle elections and passed lobbying and political ad reform to increase transparency and disclosure requirements;
• Co-sponsored legislation for sexual assault protections for hotel workers;
• Re-directed City funds to invest in BIPOC communities through the City budget process.

To see a full list of Councilmember González's legislative work, please click here.