| Abel Pacheco Jr. | |
| Office: | Member of the Seattle City Council from District 4 |
| Term Start: | April 22, 2019 |
| Term End: | November 27, 2019 |
| Predecessor: | Rob Johnson |
| Successor: | Alex Pedersen |
| Birth Place: | Los Angeles, California |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Residence: | Ravenna, Seattle |
| Alma Mater: |
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Abel Pacheco Jr. is an American politician from Seattle, Washington. He was appointed to the District 4 seat on the Seattle City Council in April 2017.
Pacheco was raised by Mexican immigrant parents in Los Angeles, California.[1] He earned his bachelors degree in political science at California State University, Northridge before moving to Seattle.[2] He has a Masters of Public Affairs degree from the University of Washington.[3]
Pacheco worked at the Seattle Foundation and the Seattle Police Foundation.[2] He later worked at the University of Washington as the assistant director of the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity and the STEM program director.[1] [4]
In 2015, Pacheco was wrongfully arrested for allegedly assaulting a cab driver after receiving a promotion at the University of Washington. The conviction was later expunged.[1] [5]
For the first time, seven city council seats were decided by geographic representation in the 2015 election. Pacheco ran in District 4 against incumbent Jean Godden.[6] [7] Pacheco came in fifth place in the August primary, receiving only 8.43% of the vote.[8]
In 2017, Pacheco ran for the appointment to fill the seat of Tim Burgess, who had become acting mayor.[9] The council appointed Kirsten Harris-Talley to fill the seat.[7]
In 2019, Pacheco ran for city council in District 4 after incumbent Rob Johnson (Seattle politician) stated he would not run for reelection.[10] During the election, Pacheco accused rival and future District 4 councilmember Alex Pedersen (politician) of sending emails saying, "Abel is a criminal."[1] Pederson denied the accusation.[1]
In March 2019, Johnson announced that he would resign from the city council in April to work as a transportation adviser for Seattle's new NHL team.[11] Pacheco was appointed to fill the position in a "caretaker" role, and stated that he would drop out of the District 4 race.[10]
Pacheco was chair of the Planning, Land Use & Zoning Committee during his time in office focusing on urbanist issues.[12] As chair, he introduced legislation that would reduce the amount of time for environmental review for projects related to housing and climate change.[13] The legislation received some push-back from over concerns of environmental protection and reduction in civic engagement, but passed 8-0.[14] [15]
After leaving the city council, Pacheco then worked for Sound Transit.[16] In June 2023, he joined the Washington State Army National Guard as a part-time intelligence analyst.[3]