Reagan Blackburn Dunn (born 1971) is an American politician and lawyer who is a member of the nonpartisan

King County Council The Metropolitan King County Council, the legislative body of King County, Washington, consists of nine members elected by district. The Council adopts laws, sets policy, and holds final approval over the budget. Its current name and structure i ...

, representing District 9 in Southeast

King County, Washington King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the List of the most populous counties ...

. District 9 includes the cities of Bellevue, Newcastle, Renton, Maple Valley,

Covington Covington may refer to: People * Covington (surname) Places United Kingdom * Covington, Cambridgeshire * Covington, South Lanarkshire United States * Covington, Georgia * Covington, Indiana * Covington, Kentucky, the largest American cit ...

, Black Diamond, and

Enumclaw Enumclaw ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 12,543 at the 2020 census. The Enumclaw Plateau, on which the city resides, was formed by a volcanic mudflow (lahar) from Mount Rainier approximately 5,700 ye ...

, as well as large unincorporated areas. Prior to his service on the King County Council, Dunn was a federal prosecutor and Presidential appointee in the US Department of Justice. As Senior Counsel to the Director for the Executive

Executive Office for United States Attorneys The Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) is the office within the Department of Justice that provides executive and administrative support for the 93 United States Attorneys located throughout the 50 states, District of Columbia, G ...

, he helped create Project Safe Neighborhoods, a national initiative against gun violence.

Early life and education

He is a son of former U.S. Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn, who primarily raised Dunn and his brother. He was named after former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and grew up in

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside (King County, Washington), Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area and has v ...

. Dunn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in t ...

. In 1998, he earned his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

from

University of Washington School of Law The University of Washington School of Law is the law school of the University of Washington, located on the northwest corner of the main campus in Seattle, Washington. The 2023 '' U.S. News & World Report'' law school rankings place Washing ...

Career

After graduating from law school, Dunn joined the law firm of Inslee, Doezie & Ryder, P.S. in Bellevue. In 2001, Dunn was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve in the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...

(DOJ) as Senior Counsel to the Director for the Executive

. In this capacity, he was the first National Coordinator of Project Safe Neighborhoods, which he helped to author. He later served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the

Office of Justice Programs The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that focuses on crime prevention through research and development, assistance to state, local, and tribal criminal justice agencies, including law enforce ...

and Attorney Advisor for the Department of Justice's Office of Public Affairs. Following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, Dunn was a Department of Justice delegate on President Bush's Task Force on Citizen Preparedness, where he helped form the USA Freedom Corps, Citizen Corps, and the Volunteers in Police Service Program and led efforts to expand the

National Neighborhood Watch Program The United States National Neighborhood Watch Program (formerly known as USAonWatch.org) is a neighborhood watch program run under Citizen Corps that focuses on residential areas through citizen involvement. Originally developed in the late 1960s, ...

to include terrorism awareness. Dunn also participated in the investigation of Zacharias Moussaoui in the Eastern District of Virginia. Dunn was appointed to the

in 2005, and elected to the position that same year. In

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, he ran for Attorney General of Washington. He received 47 percent of the vote, losing the election to Bob Ferguson. On November 29, 2021, Dunn launched a campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in the

8th district 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of the ...

against two-term incumbent Democrat

Kim Schrier Kimberly Merle Schrier ( ; born August 23, 1968) is an American politician and former physician serving as the U.S. Representative from since 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Early life and career Schrier was born and raised in L ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

Personal life

Dunn lives in Covington, Washington, with his wife Ashley. He has two children from a previous marriage. In 2014, Dunn

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 ...

. In 2022, he first spoke publicly about his past struggles with

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...

, crediting his journey to

sobriety Sobriety is the condition of not having any measurable levels or effects from alcohol or drugs. Sobriety is also considered to be the natural state of a human being at birth. A person in a state of sobriety is considered sober. Organizations ...

with inspiring him to advocate for

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...

that helps people in recovery.

Electoral history

References

External links

Official website

Biography at King County
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Reagan 1971 births Candidates in the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections King County Councillors Living people Washington (state) lawyers Washington (state) politicians convicted of crimes Washington (state) Republicans