Snohomish County Councilmen Nate Nehring and Jared Mead
Council District 1 includes Marysville, Arlington, Stanwood, Granite Falls, Darrington, the Stillaguamish Tribe, the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe, and unincorporated North Snohomish County.Nate and his wife Savannah are both lifelong residents of North Snohomish County. They currently live in Arlington, where they are raising their three children, Kennedy, James, and Claire. Nate and Savannah are both active members of their community and enjoy volunteering through church and coaching youth sports. Nate graduated from Western Washington University and has served on the Snohomish County Council since 2017.Nate has prioritized working in a bipartisan manner in order to best serve the residents of Snohomish County. He penned an op-ed in the Seattle Times to that effect during his time as Chair of the County Council: https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/putting-politics-aside-to-get-the-job-done/.During his time on Council, Nate has prioritized fiscal responsibility, public safety, and economic growth. He has consistently voted against tax increases and has played a key role in balancing the budget with no increase to the general property tax levy in four of the past five years. Nate led the effort to ban heroin injection sites from Snohomish County and also worked with the cities of Arlington and Marysville along with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office and Human Services Department to establish the North County law enforcement-embedded social worker program. Nate has also partnered with local school districts, businesses, and labor organizations to develop the Regional Apprenticeship Pathways (RAP) Program to serve local students in North Snohomish County by providing them with a career pathway into the skilled trades.Council District 4 includes Mill Creek, Bothell, Mountlake Terrace, Brier and parts of unincorporated South Snohomish County.Jared and his wife, Krystal, were both born and raised in South Snohomish County and are proud products of the Everett Public school system, where Krystal currently works as a middle school teacher. They live in Mill Creek with their three young children: Kallen, Sloane, and Olivia.
After graduating from the University of Washington, Jared spent time working in the private sector as a licensed small business and investment banker. Following his stint in private industry, Jared went on to begin his career in public service in 2014 when he was appointed to the Mill Creek Planning Commission, he was later elected to the Mill Creek City Council.
In 2018, Jared was elected to the State House of Representatives in the 44th Legislative District. In the State House, Jared served on the Transportation, Environment and Energy Committee, as well as the College and Workforce Development Committee.
Jared has served as a District 4 County Councilmember since April of 2020 when he was appointed to fill the seat of his predecessor. He then ran for election to retain the seat in 2021.
Jared has consistently fought to bring the perspective of future generations into the policy conversation, and he strongly believes that his job in government is to leave the world a better place for future generations. He believes the best way to accomplish this goal is to approach policy making with an open mind and willingness to hear from all sides of an issue to make a fully informed decision. He is committed to working with colleagues across the aisle to create bipartisanship solutions for constituents, an example of this is his Building Bridges work with Councilmember Nate Nehring where they hold open format discussions with the community about how to overcome polarization for the common good.
“I learned the importance of interpersonal relationships with your voters. How going from door to door can teach you about some overlooked problems in the county. I was inspired to not take everything at face value, do your own research, and cultivate a good moral compass. This will allow one to be able to come humble into every situation, because sometimes not even the experts see the full picture.”
-Dominic Smith from the Great City of Birch
