Lynnwood Council candidate Isabel Mata kicks off her campaign with karaoke and free tacos

“No one left behind” is Lynnwood City Council Pos. 2 candidate Isabel Mata’s campaign slogan – a message she stood behind as she offered free tacos to anyone who walked into Peace of Mind Brewing Friday night – whether they were there for her campaign party or not. 

Mata, 29, is running for the council seat currently occupied by Councilmember Patrick Decker. He  has served on the council since 2021 and is not seeking reelection, instead opting to run for a Snohomish County Charter Commissioner seat. Mata’s opponent is Ki Sueng Cho, owner of a local Taekwondo school, who has the incumbent’s endorsement. 

Mata’s campaign party was attended by over 20 local politicians, community activists, residents, family members and  friends who voiced their support for the political newcomer. 

Among those backing Mata at the party were State Rep. Lauren Davis, Edmonds City Councilmember Chris Eck, Bothell City Councilmember Amanda Dodd and Lynnwood Councilmembers George Hurst and Derica Escamilla. 

“It’s really exciting to see young women running for office, that was me once upon a time, and it’s rare,” Rep. Davis told Lynnwood Today at the event. “But I really appreciate Isabel and her cognitive nature, her passion for people in our community who face barriers. …She’s the type of person that I feel like I could really collaborate with in my role as a lawmaker, and I could see it being a really beautiful partnership over the years.”

Along with free tacos for all, the party was a karaoke extravaganza, where Mata and others sang songs on a donation basis. She kicked off the night with a number dedicated to her opponent: Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar. 

Mata has centered her campaign on inclusivity and equality, hence her motto, “No one left behind.” She said she wants to advocate for reliable health care and public services, and aims to support working class people by advocating for policy and action centered on fair wages, affordable child care, and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. 

She told a vulnerable story of how she was bullied online in middle school. A girl living in a nearby town faced the same harassment and eventually took her own life. 

Feeling angry and moved, Mata led an effort to shut down the online forum where most of the bullying took place. She gathered hundreds of community signatures, marking it as her first time organizing the community and fighting for a cause she believed in. 

“I knew how she felt at that moment,” she said. “I’d been struggling with those same thoughts, when people are telling [you] how horrible you are, it really gets to you. And in that moment, when I say that the same thing happened to somebody else, and it could have been me, I knew that I had to do something about it.” 

She remarked on how she’s spent her life advocating for causes she believes in, describing how she participated in the Women’s March in 2016 and supported  the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. 

“When I see our federal government attacking the LGBTQ+ community and immigrants, I just can’t stay silent,” Mata said. I can’t just stay on social media or show up at a protest until it’s done.” 

She and her husband Richard moved to Lynnwood three years ago and their home-buying journey was broadcasted on an episode of House Hunters in 2022. She’s a photographer and writer, her work featured in the likes of Cosmopolitan, Wondermind, Elite Daily and Well+Good. She’s written a range of articles delving into her personal and professional life, talking about relationships, pop culture, mental health and her experience as a neurodivergent person and a member of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Currently, she’s the director of a life coaching firm. She has a background in marketing, having served as the assistant manager for Urban Decay Cosmetics, where she contributed to marketing and product development. Additionally, she founded and runs her own creative consulting agency. 

Mata holds a bachelor’s degree from New York University in global liberal studies and spent time studying abroad at NYU London. She grew up in Rochester, New York and Nashville, Tennessee, later moving to Washington, where she now lives with her husband and three cats. 

“For all of South County, we have someone willing to fight,” Edmonds Councilmember Eck said during Friday’s campaign event. “We are growing, we are evolving, we’re more diverse. The need to include everyone and bring them along is greater than ever, and Isabella is just this person to do this.”

Mata is also endorsed by local Democrats, including the 21st and 32nd District Democrats. Among the politicians backing her are Rep. Strom Peterson, Sen. Jon Lovick, Rep. Mary Fosse, Rep. Shaun Scott, Snohomish County Councilmember Jared Mead and Edmonds School Board Director Thom Garrard. 

“We need people like Isabel,” Bothell Councilmember Dodd said. “When we have city councils who trend toward sort of one gender, one race, you end up with decisions that don’t center everybody in the community. We know that our communities are more diverse than ever…We have to have people who represent our communities and who represent different ages, different economic experiences.”

Community activist Elizabeth Lunsford also spoke at the party. During her remarks, she admitted she has  a reputation for tension with local politicians and fiery comments at city council meetings, leading to her being escorted out of meetings. 

Lunsford reached out to Mata upon seeing that she was running for council, and Mata suggested Lunsford help with her campaign. 

“… and I’m like, I don’t think I should, because of all this stigma against me, all this negative trust,” Lunsford said. “I didn’t want my outbursts to be associated to Isabel. But then she said, ‘Elizabeth, no one left behind.’”

In addition to her campaigning, Mata has attended recent city council meetings, where she’s brought certain issues to the council’s attention during public comment. These have included a lack of parking at the Lynnwood Transit Center during peak business hours, and asking the council to support local nonprofit Lynnwood Pride when the city denied the group’s request to hang a Pride flag in a city park in June. 

Like many others in the community, Mata was moved to take action following gun-related deaths of multiple local teenagers in the past few years. 

“It’s my mission to give every young person in Lynnwood the same sense of belonging and safety that my neighbors give to me today,” she said. “My neighbors and I, we share meals, we watch each other’s pets and we show up when someone needs help. That’s what community is, and that’s the kind of care our city should be giving to our youth, to coworking families, to immigrants, to people who just came here seeking a better life. Care isn’t charity, it’s how we lift each other up.”

General Election Day in Snohomish County is Nov. 5. 

To learn more about Mata, visit her campaign website. 

— Contact Ashley at ashley@myedmondsnews.com.