MEET YASMIN TRUDEAU
Senator Trudeau identifies as a mixed-race Bangali American, woman of color and is proud of her immigrant and American blended roots. She is also the first Muslim-American to serve in the Washington state Legislature and the first WA state legislator to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. She credits her lived experience as the motivation for her advocacy and her professional experience as the tools she has acquired to advocate effectively for her community.
She is the product of hope and tenacity, despite growing up in poverty and navigating state systems, like foster care and DSHS. Her own mother never had the opportunity to learn how to read or write and this motivated her path to college despite experiencing homelessness during her teenage years. She credits the support she received from the community during critical times in her life, her mother’s incredible grit, despite all odds, and her connection to her faith/values as the motivation for her career in public service.
Senator Trudeau has served as state Senator for the 27th Legislative District since being unanimously appointed by the Pierce County Council in 2021 and then elected by the voters in 2022. During her time, she has focused her efforts on supporting sustainable solutions to our homelessness crisis, increasing housing supply, and directly addressing the housing affordability crisis by stabilizing the rental market. She has also prioritized holding criminal polluters accountable, ensuring that we have fair economic markets for small businesses, investing in breaking cycles of generational poverty, tackling critical workforce challenges, building out our mental and behavioral health systems, and expanding first time homeownership opportunities as one of the lead negotiators of the state’s Capital (infrastructure) budget.
Prior to her current role, her professional advocacy included serving as the Legislative Director for Attorney General Bob Ferguson, requesting and passing legislation to prevent gun violence, stop the overprescribing of opiates, increase use of prescription monitoring program and establish strong domestic worker protections. She worked to pass legislation to prohibit youth solitary confinement, increase consumer and student loan protections, close wage theft loopholes, address unfair debt collection practices, and increase the efficacy of our state’s Medicaid Fraud Program. As the Attorney General’s Tribal Affairs Manager, she helped to implement historical policy to establish a more transparent and collaborative relationship between sovereign Tribal Governments and the State’s attorneys.
Trudeau has also served as Tribal Affairs Manager for Washington State for the Washington state Attorney General's Office, Staff Counsel for the Senate Democratic Caucus, and Legislative Assistant to now Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. Senator Trudeau is a licensed attorney and currently lives in Central Tacoma with her husband, 5 year old son, 2 year old daughter and their cat, Jinx.