Debora Juarez is an American lawyer and politician serving as the president of the

Seattle City Council The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-l ...

. She was first elected in 2015 to represent the 5th district. A member of the

Blackfeet Nation The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Monta ...

, she was the first Native American person elected to the council.

Early life and education

Juarez is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation. She grew up on the Puyallup Reservation in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

with her five siblings. Her mother was Native American and her father was a first-generation Mexican-American. Juarez was the first member of her family to attend college. She earned an undergraduate degree at

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a pri ...

and then a JD from

Seattle University School of Law Seattle University School of Law, or Seattle Law School, or SU Law (formerly University of Puget Sound School of Law) is the law school affiliated with Seattle University, the Northwest's largest independent university. The School is accredite ...

Career

Juarez began working as a public defender while attending law school at night. She spent five years as a public defender and then worked an attorney for the Native American Project. She served two years as a

King County Superior Court The Superior Court of Washington for King County (more commonly, the King County Superior Court) is the largest trial court in Washington state. It is based at the King County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue, in downtown Seattle, Washington. It als ...

and City of Seattle Municipal Court pro-tem judge, and was the executive director of the Governor's Office of Indian Affairs under

Mike Lowry Michael Edward Lowry (March 8, 1939 – May 1, 2017) was an American politician who served as the 20th governor of Washington from 1993 to 1997. His political career ended abruptly following a sexual misconduct allegation made against him by h ...

and

Gary Locke Gary Faye Locke (born January 21, 1950) is an American politician and diplomat serving as the interim president of Bellevue College, the largest of the institutions that make up the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system. Locke se ...

City Council

In 2015, Juarez was elected to the Seattle City Council's District 5 position, which represents the north end of Seattle. She was sworn in by her two daughters and a niece on Monday January 4, 2016. Near the end of her first year in office, ''

Crosscut.com Crosscut.com is a nonprofit news website based in Seattle, Washington, United States. Its content is mainly news analysis rather than breaking news like other online newspapers or blogs. History Founding Crosscut was founded in 2007 by Davi ...

'' described Juarez as a "wildcard councilmember" for her voting record and manner of "speaking more bluntly than most politicians would". Juarez was reelected to City Council District 5 in 2019, winning with 60.59% of the vote over

Ann Davison Ann Davison (5 June 1913 – 12 May 1992) was an author and sailor. At the age of 39, she was the first woman to single-handedly sail the Atlantic Ocean. She departed Plymouth, England in her 23-foot boat '' Felicity Ann'' on 18 May 1952. Ear ...

. As a councilmember, Juarez is well-known for focusing on her district and advocating for major capital projects, including the Northgate Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge over

I-5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...

and a controversial police station in her district. After members of the council were criticized for a 2016 vote against a street vacation necessary for a new arena to be built in the

SoDo Sodo ( am, ሶዶ) or Wolaita Sodo ( am, ወላይታ ሶዶ) or ( Wolaytatto: ''Wolayta Sodo Ambbaa'') is a city in south-central Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Wolaita Zone. It has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation be ...

area, Juarez took a lead in the redevelopment of the Seattle Center Arena and was appointed chair of the Select Committee on Civic Arenas. In September 2018, the council unanimously approved a renovation of the arena with plans to attract a

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

team to the city. She announced on December 12, 2022 that she would not seek re-election in

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Personal life

Juarez lives in the Pinehurst neighborhood of Seattle. In 2012, Juarez

pleaded guilty In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a criminal case under common law using the adversarial system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a defendant at arraignment, or otherwise in response ...

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

after crashing her car in Seattle's Northgate neighborhood.

Electoral history

2015 election

2019 election

References

External links

Debora Juarez's Seattle City Council webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Juarez, Debora Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Blackfeet Nation people Seattle City Council members Women city councillors in Washington (state) Native American women in politics Native American city councillors 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians American politicians of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American women in politics Western Washington University alumni Seattle University School of Law alumni Public defenders