About

Personal Story

Suzan DelBene has represented Washington’s First Congressional District since 2012, fighting for us in Washington, D.C.

Growing up, Suzan saw her parents struggle to make ends meet.

Determined to arm herself with a quality education, Suzan worked her way through college and earned a bachelor’s degree from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, with the help of student loans and financial aid. She later received a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Washington.

After school, Suzan became a leader in technology and innovation, embarking on a 12-year career at Microsoft. Among just a handful of women serving at the executive level at Microsoft, Suzan worked as a vice president running worldwide sales, marketing, and product management for the company’s mobile technology business.

She also helped create drugstore.com as its original vice president of marketing and store development. Later, she served as CEO and president of the startup company Nimble Technology.

Beyond her private sector experience, public service and helping others has always been central to Suzan’s story. It is a key reason she decided to seek public office. She was an adviser to Global Partnerships, a microfinance non-profit focused on providing much-needed loans to help create economic opportunities for people living in poverty. She has also worked as a volunteer with the YWCA to build programs that provide transitional housing and job training to women and families struggling to get back on their feet.

 

In 2010, Suzan was appointed by Governor Christine Gregoire to be the Director of the Washington State Department of Revenue. During one of the most difficult budget challenges in state history, Suzan worked to streamline government, make the department more efficient, and save money without cutting vital funding to programs that help low-income and middle-class families. She also traveled the state working with small businesses to develop solutions to simplify the tax code and reduce administrative burdens on taxpayers.

In Congress, Suzan is prioritizing securing federal resources to address the COVID-19 pandemic, to strengthen our public health response in Washington and to provide relief to families, workers, and small businesses. She is also one of the leaders on the House’s bipartisan jobs protection plan, which will help keep workers on the payroll by covering more of their salary for longer. This would also keep workers connected to their benefits and help reduce unemployment.

Suzan has fought tirelessly to protect Americans’ privacy by reforming outdated laws that don’t account for the way technology works today and by reining-in government surveillance programs that impact law-abiding Americans. She has also introduced legislation to make college more affordable, address climate change, protect farmers, expand public lands protections, and scrap the income contribution cap on the wealthiest Americans to keep Social Security solvent for more than 40 years.

With a lifetime of business experience and community service, Suzan brings a depth and history of achieving results that are essential in today’s divisive political environment.

Suzan and her husband Kurt have two children and a dog named Reily, and are proud to call the First District home.