Issaquah City Councilmember Tola Marts announced his campaign today for Congress in Washington’s Eighth Congressional District.

“I decided to run for Congress because I worry that America’s standing as a place where dreams can happen, and opportunity can be seized, is slipping. I also worry that with all the political division and partisanship, we’re losing our sense of community. I’m running because I believe our government can do better: lifting people up, protecting the vulnerable, and ensuring basic rights,” said Tola Marts.

Marts was elected to Issaquah City Council in 2009 and became Council President in 2012. He won reelection in 2013, and is chair for the Services and Safety Committee. In 2017, Tola is running unopposed. He is also the chair for the Sound Cities Association Public Issues Committee, and serves as an SCA representative for the King County Growth Management Policy Council and the Regional E911 Leadership Group.

“We know that education is the best investment we can make towards long term prosperity. Most Americans, still, don’t have college degrees. But the jobs of the future will demand it. Which is why if elected, my first piece of legislation will be to make two years of community college free for all Americans. It’s hard to imagine more we could do to fulfill the promise of the American Dream than to give every kid the chance to go to college,” added Marts.

Marts began work for Intellectual Ventures Lab in 2012, where he helped create innovative health care solutions for the world’s poorest people. There he manages a team of engineers who developed health care solutions for international aid organizations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH, UNICEF and the WHO. Between 2012 and 2014 Marts travelled to Africa and Asia as part of developing humanitarian technology. Marts volunteers for the Issaquah Meals Program and with St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, where he was elected to the vestry.

Marts lives in Issaquah with his wife Tracy and his two children, Sophie and Aidan.

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