Claudia Balducci
Chair of the King County Council
Assumed office
January 8, 2020
Preceded byRod Dembowski
Member of the King County Council
from the 6th district
Assumed office
January 1, 2016
Preceded byJane Hague
Mayor of Bellevue, Washington
In office
January 7, 2014 – January 1, 2016
Preceded byConrad Lee
Succeeded byJohn Stokes
Personal details
Born (1967-09-24) September 24, 1967
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseJim Balducci
EducationProvidence College (BA)
Columbia University (JD)
Occupation
  • Politician
Websitewww.kingcounty.gov/council/balducci.aspx

Claudia M. Balducci (born September 24, 1967) is an American politician from the state of Washington. She is the Chair of the King County Council,[1] representing District 6. She previously served as the mayor of Bellevue, Washington.[2]

Education

Balducci earned a Bachelor of Arts from Providence College and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School.[3]

Career

After graduating from law school, Balducci worked as a labor negotiator in Lake Hills, Bellevue.[4] She has also worked as a leader in the areas of affordable housing, education, and transportation. Balducci was first elected to the Bellevue City Council in 2004.[5] She served as deputy mayor of Bellevue from 2008 to 2009, and while working as the Director of the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention for King County, was elected mayor of Bellevue in 2014.[3][6] During her tenure as mayor, Bellevue was selected to participate in a Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative to use data to enhance the distribution of public services.[7] While serving as mayor, Balducci announced her candidacy for King County Council.[8]

After endorsements that included U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, Governor Jay Inslee and King County Executive Dow Constantine,[5] Balducci defeated six-term incumbent Jane Hague in the 2015 election to the King County Council.[9][10] After her re-election to a second term on the county council, she was unanimously elected to serve as Chair of the council in 2020.[11] She is the first woman to serve as council chair since 2008.[12]

During her tenure as Chair of the King County Council, she has addressed the local deployment of COVID-19 vaccines,[13] homelessness and housing issues,[14] and law enforcement reform.[15] In 2020, she proposed the director of the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight (OLEO) not be reappointed,[16] which was successful after a council vote.[17] In 2021, she sponsored a proposal to create a "first-in-the-nation" program to support undocumented immigrants with applications for status and citizenship that was approved by the King County Council.[18]

In 2021, in addition to her role as Chair of the King County Council, she was elected president of the Puget Sound Regional Council,[19] after previously serving as vice-president, and she has served as Chair of the Sound Transit System Expansion Committee.[11]

Honors and awards

  • 2015 Warren G. Magnuson Elected Official of the Year Award, Washington State Democratic Party[20]

Personal life

In 2009, Balducci and her husband adopted a child from Kazakhstan.[21]

References

  1. ↑ "Council Chair Claudia Balducci". King County. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Council Roundup: Balducci chosen mayor". City of Bellevue. January 7, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  3. 1 2 KING Staff (January 7, 2014). "Claudia Balducci elected mayor of Bellevue". King5. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Claudia Balducci - Bellevue Pos. 5". The Seattle Times. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  5. 1 2 McNerthney, Casey (November 3, 2015). "Longtime KC Councilwoman Jane Hague trails Bellevue mayor". KIRO7. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  6. ↑ Macz, Brandon (April 22, 2014). "Mayor says vision forming for Bellevue". Bellevue Reporter. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  7. ↑ Grande, Alison (December 10, 2015). "Bellevue to post data with hopes of innovation". KIRO7. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  8. ↑ Vaughn, Alexa (February 25, 2015). "Bellevue mayor to challenge Hague for County Council job". The Seattle Times. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Balducci defeats 6-term incumbent Hague for King County Council". The Seattle Times. November 3, 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  10. ↑ Murray, Ryan (November 5, 2015). "Balducci pulls upset in King County race". Bellevue Reporter. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  11. 1 2 "King County Council elects Claudia Balducci as chair in 2020". Kent Reporter. January 8, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Girmay Zahilay Begins Work on King County Council as Larry Gossett Era Ends". The Seattle Times. January 8, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  13. ↑ Horne, Deborah (February 6, 2021). "King County Council chair calls for more transparency on availability of vaccines". KIRO7. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  14. ↑ Ronco, Ed (February 24, 2021). "King Co. Council chair: 'Start and lead with the humanity' in addressing homelessness". KNKX. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  15. ↑ Ronco, Ed (February 25, 2021). "Law enforcement needs 'culture change,' says King Co. Council chair". KNKX. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  16. ↑ Carter, Mike (August 17, 2020). "King County Council poised to oust director of law enforcement oversight office". The Seattle Times. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  17. ↑ Kiefer, Paul; Barnett, Erica C. (September 1, 2020). "In Narrow Vote, County Council Ousts Police Accountability Director". Publicola. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  18. ↑ Sheppard, Cameron (June 26, 2021). "King County leaders propose funding to support immigrants in the region". The Courier-Herald. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Claudia Balducci and Becky Erickson elected to lead PSRC". www.psrc.org. April 29, 2021. Archived from the original on August 3, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Bellevue Mayor Claudia Balducci Wins Warren G. Magnuson Elected Official of the Year Award". Washington State Democrats. September 21, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  21. ↑ Larin, Lindsay (March 26, 2009). "Bellevue Deputy Mayor Claudia Balducci gets the best Valentine's Day present: her new son". Bellevue Reporter. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
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