Marilyn Strickland (born September 25, 1962) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative from

Washington's 10th congressional district Washington's 10th congressional district is a congressional district in western Washington (U. S. state), Washington. The district is centered on the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and includes portions of Thurston County, Washingto ...

. The district is based in the state capital of Olympia, and also includes much of eastern Tacoma. A member of the Democratic Party, Strickland took office on January 3, 2021. She served as the 38th mayor of Tacoma from 2010 to 2018. She is the first member of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

of both Korean and

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

heritage, and the first African-American member elected from Washington. Strickland is also one of the first three Korean-American women elected to Congress, beginning her term on the same day as Republicans

Young Kim Young Oak Kim (, born October 18, 1962) is a South Korean-born American politician and businesswoman serving as the U.S. representative for California's 40th congressional district, previously representing the 39th congressional district fr ...

and Michelle Park Steel.

Early life and education

Strickland was born on September 25, 1962, in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea, the daughter of Inmin Kim, a Korean, and Willie Strickland, an African-American serviceman. She and her family moved to

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, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

, in 1967 after her father was stationed at Fort Lewis. She was raised in Tacoma's South End neighborhood and attended Mount Tahoma High School. Strickland earned a degree in business from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

and an MBA from

Clark Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded on September19, 1865, as Atlanta University, it was the first HBCU in the South ...

Career

After graduating from the

, Strickland took a job at Northern Life Insurance doing clerical work. At a luncheon, she was introduced to Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, who suggested that she further her education. After earning a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

from

, Strickland joined

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

as a manager of its online business. She then moved on to help launch the City of Tacoma's public broadband cable service

Click! ''Click!'' (former ''Averea'') is a Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to th ...

, working with an advertisement agency to help grow public support. After years in the private sector, Strickland was elected to the Tacoma City Council. She served as a council member for two years before being selected to serve as mayor from 2010 to 2018. Strickland was the first Asian-born elected mayor of Tacoma, as well as the first African-American woman in that office. She used connections in China and Vietnam to draw foreign investors, culminating in Chinese President

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

's visit to Tacoma. In May 2010, the Tacoma Board of Ethics sanctioned Strickland for accepting

frequent flyer miles A frequent-flyer programme (FFP) is a loyalty program offered by an airline. Many airlines have frequent-flyer programmes designed to encourage airline customers enrolled in the programme to accumulate points (also called miles, kilometres, ...

from a local businessman for an official trip to Asia. She accepted the sanction and returned the value of the frequent flyer miles to the businessman. After her mayoralty, Strickland was approached by the pro-business Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce to serve as its president. During her tenure as president of the chamber of commerce, she opposed the Seattle head tax. Strickland has been described as a

political moderate Moderate is an ideological category which entails centrist views on a liberal-conservative spectrum. It may also designate a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. Political position Canada ...

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2020

Strickland left the Chamber in early 2020, declaring her candidacy for

in the 2020 election, a seat being vacated by incumbent Denny Heck. She was endorsed by several politicians and newspapers. In the August 4 jungle primary, Strickland placed first in a field of 19 candidates. She and the second-place finisher, Democratic State Representative Beth Doglio, advanced to the November general election. In the November general election, Strickland defeated Doglio. She assumed office on January 3, 2021. As a member of the

117th United States Congress The 117th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January ...

, Strickland is the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

's first Black U.S. Representative and one of the first three Korean-American Congresswomen, along with

Michelle Steel Michelle Eunjoo Steel ( Park, born June 21, 1955) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for California's 45th congressional district from 2023 to 2025, previously representing the 48th congressional district from 20 ...

and

, who began their terms on the same day. She wore a traditional

hanbok The hanbok () is the traditional clothing of the Koreans, Korean people. The term ''hanbok'' is primarily used by South Koreans; North Koreans refer to the clothes as (). The clothes are also worn in the Korean diaspora. Koryo-saram—ethnic Ko ...

to her swearing-in ceremony to honor her mother.

Tenure

Strickland voted with President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a ''

FiveThirtyEight ''FiveThirtyEight'', also rendered as ''538'', was an American website that focused on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States. The website, which took its name from the number of electors in the U ...

'' analysis.

Committee assignments

United States House Committee on Armed Services The U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee or HASC, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is responsible for funding and oversight of the Department of De ...

* Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure