Suzan DelBene

In 2010 DelBene ran for election to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat against the incumbent in the 8th congressional district, Dave Reichert, a Republican. According to DelBene's campaign website, the economy was her top priority.[13] DelBene earned the endorsements of the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer,[14][15] as well as several Democratic politicians.[16]

DelBene faced Reichert in the general election, after coming in 2nd in the primary voting. In Washington, the top two advance. DelBene lost to Reichert in the general election on November 2. She was subsequently named Washington State Revenue Director by Governor Christine Gregoire on November 30, 2010.

DelBene ran for Congress again in 2012. DelBene won the Democratic nomination for the redrawn 1st district, previously represented by Jay Inslee, which became more competitive due to redistricting. Inslee had resigned in March to focus on his ultimately successful campaign for governor.[17] DelBene ran in two elections that day against Republican John Koster—a special election for the last two months of Inslee's seventh term (and held in the boundaries of the old 1st), and a regular election for a full two-year term. She defeated Koster in both elections, winning the special election with 60 percent of the vote and the regular election with 54 percent of the vote. Her victory margin in the regular election was wider than expected, considering that the district was about six points less Democratic than its predecessor.[4][5] On November 13, 2012, she was sworn in as the district's representative for the remainder of the 112th Congress,[2] giving her a leg up in seniority over all but a few other representatives first elected in November 2012 for the upcoming 113th Congress.

DelBene spent $2.8 million of her own money in a race in which she raised over $4 million, in a Congressional race that became the most expensive in Washington state history.[18]

DelBene ran for Congress again in 2014 and won against Republican Pedro Celis.[19] Delbene earned 55% of the vote to hold on to her seat.[20]

• House Ways and Means Committee
• Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress

• New Democrat Coalition (Vice Chair) [21]
• Aluminum Caucus (Co-Chair)
• Caucus on Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality Technologies (Co-Chair)
• Digital Trade Caucus(Co-Chair)
• Internet of Things (IoT) Caucus(Co-Chair)
• Congressional Kidney Caucus(Co-Chair)
• MedTech Caucus(Co-Chair)
• Congressional Dairy Farmers Caucus
• Women's High Tech Coalition(Co-Chair)[22] and has a leadership role in the Pro-Choice Caucus.[23]
• Congressional Arts Caucus
• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
• Veterinary Medicine Caucus
• LGBTQ Equality Caucus
• Diabetes Caucus
• U.S.-Japan Caucus.

DelBene introduced H.R. 4027, the Women’s Small Business Ownership Act,[24] which is aimed at increasing business counseling and training services for women entrepreneurs.[25]

DelBene currently serves on the Ways and Means Committee. She has advanced two bills in 2018 addressing the opioid addiction.[26]

In the 116th Congress, DelBene has introduced the following legislation:

• the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2019 (H.R. 3107)[27] to improve delivery of health care by streamlining prior authorization in Medicare Advantage for routinely approved services.[28]
• the Mental Health Telehealth Expansion Act (H.R. 1301),[29] which would expand access to health care by allowing all Medicare beneficiaries to receive mental health services from their home regardless of their geographic location.[30]
• the Chronic Care Management Improvement Act (H.R. 3436),[31] which would remove the cost-sharing requirement for chronic care management (CCM) services, making care coordination services easier for providers and more affordable for the sickest Medicare beneficiaries.[32]

DelBene is one of the leaders of the Pro-Choice Caucus[33] and stood up for women and access to reproductive health care by serving on the Select Committee to Investigate Planned Parenthood, which was established under former Speaker Paul Ryan in 2015.[34]

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene speaking at the Lynnwood Link Extension Project Groundbreaking Ceremony in September 2019.

In 2019, she reintroduced legislation that would require companies to present their privacy policies in “plain English”. The legislation would also create an option for consumers to “opt in” before companies can use consumers’ private information.[35]

She has introduced several other bills that would help update our nation's privacy laws, including the Email Privacy Act, the Secure Data Act, and the Law Enforcement Access to Data Stored Abroad (LEADS) Act.[36] Legislation similar to the LEADS Act, the CLOUD Act, was passed into law in the 115th Congress.

In the 116th Congress, DelBene is a member of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, "which is committed to find ways to improve and modernize the way Congress operates".[37]

In the 116th Congress, DelBene has introduced

• the Portable Benefits for Independent Workers Pilot Program Act (H.R.4016),[38] which allows temporary and contract workers to access portable benefits models, and
• the Lifelong Learning and Training Account Act of 2019 (H.R. 4017),[39] which assists low and moderate-income workers in retraining and enhancing their skills over the course of their careers.[40]
• the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2019 (H.R. 3077),[41] a bill that would increase the government's investment in affordable housing and provide resources to aid at-risk and underserved communities by creating a projected 1.9 million new affordable housing units over the next decade, among other things.[42] Without this legislation, only 550,000 new units would be built in the same time frame.[42]