Kelli J. Linville (born 1948) is an American politician who served as the mayor of

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (loc ...

from 2011 to 2020. Prior to her election as mayor, Linville was a member of the

Washington House of Representatives The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Washington State Legislature, and along with the Washington State Senate makes up the legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is composed of 98 Representatives from 49 ...

, representing the 42nd Legislative District, where she served Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Education

Linville was born and raised in

. She graduated from Bellingham High School in 1966 and holds a bachelor's and master's degree in speech-language pathology from

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a pri ...

. She worked for 16 years as a speech pathologist in the

Bellingham School District Bellingham School District No. 501 (referred to as Bellingham Public Schools) is a public school district in Whatcom County, Washington, United States, that serves the city of Bellingham. As of the 2019–2020 school year, the district had an ...

Career

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, Linville was elected to the

in 1992 and served one term before losing reelection. In 1995, she was appointed to fill a vacant seat. She was reelected every two years from 1996 to 2008. In November 2010, Linville was narrowly defeated for re-election by

Vincent Buys Vincent Kyle Buys (born March 21, 1979) was a member of the Washington House of Representatives, representing the 42nd district. He was the ranking member of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. He also served on the Appropriat ...

. In November 2011, Linville was elected mayor of Bellingham over incumbent Dan Pike. She was reelected in 2015, and announced she would not seek a third term in 2019. Linville was succeeded by Seth Fleetwood in 2020.

References

External links

Kelli Linville

Kelli Linville 2010 Campaign Website
1948 births Living people Mayors of places in Washington (state) Members of the Washington House of Representatives Women mayors of places in Washington (state) Women state legislators in Washington (state) Politicians from Bellingham, Washington 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians {{Washington-politician-stub