LYNNWOOD—Lynnwood City Councilwoman Derica Escamilla held her campaign kickoff event at Zulu’s Board Game Café in Lynnwood Friday, September 5, to a room of nearly 30 attendees. Her platform: safety, authenticity, and compassion.
Escamilla was appointed to the Lynnwood City Council in 2024, filling a vacancy left after former City Councilwoman Shirley Sutton’s resignation.
Escamilla is a first-generation Mexican American, born in Moses Lake and raised in Southern Texas. She graduated from Texas State University in 2004 with a Resource and Environmental Studies degree and a certificate in Water Resource Management.
For more than a decade, Councilmember Escamilla has called Lynnwood home and has significantly impacted the community in many ways. Since 2005, she has served on three City of Lynnwood Boards and Committees, including the Economic Development Advisory Board, South Lynnwood Neighborhood Co-Design Committee, and the City’s Comprehensive Plan Update.
Along with coaching basketball at the Alderwood Boys and Girls Club, Lynnwood Youth AAU Basketball Feeder Program and Lynnwood High School Boys Varsity and JV teams, she also served as the Cedar Valley Community School PSO Vice President for four years, where she still has an active role in serving that community.
Escamilla also served as Chapter Development Chair of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) and Women in Environment (WIE) organizations and chaired the annual state conference for the Association for Learning Environments, a K-12 design professional organization.
At Friday’s campaign kickoff event, several speakers in support of Escamilla’s platform took the mic to share why it is she has their vote, interspersed with games (appropriate, given the venue) including a lotería (Mexican lottery), “heads or tails”, and Lynnwood bingo. The event was emceed by Escamilla’s longtime friend Michelle Pyle.
The first speaker Friday was Thom Gerrard, who is also running this upcoming November election to retain his seat on the Edmonds School District Board, and described Escamilla as a “small package” with a “huge heart” adding “it’s amazing that it fits.”
Gerrard first met Escamilla during a meeting when she approached the board regarding her idea to formulate a Youth Council in Lynnwood.
“It was my first experience of the powerhouse that is Derica,” said Gerrard. “The thing about Derica is once she gets that idea in her head, she is not going to give it up. It was not easy, there were people who wanted to throw up obstacles, but we got it.”
Gerrard added that retaining Escamilla on the council is important, given her being the only woman and Latino on the council.
“This is not about identity politics, but these are important voices to have on the council,” said Gerrard.
Mike Atendido, local basketball coach who has known Escamilla for over nine years, followed Gerrard by sharing that Escamilla’s “passion is amazing,” – something he saw firsthand through her involvement coaching basketball through the Boys and Girls Club and Lynnwood Select.
“She was always teaching the kids, not just sports, but life,” said Atendido. “It’s amazing to see her here and hopefully she can get that seat again. We’re all rooting for her.”
Later in the evening, Escamilla brought up a few recent Lynnwood High School graduates who she coached in basketball at the Alderwood Boys and Girls Club.
“She taught us thing more than basketball; she taught us life lessons. Where no matter what, how bad things get, just be positive and worry about the next play,” one of Escamilla’s former basketball players said.
Next, Lynnwood City Council member and Lynnwood Mayoral candidate George Hurst took the stage to share a few words about why he is supporting Escamilla, based upon his firsthand experience working with her on the council.
Hurst shared that when former Lynnwood City Councilwoman Sutton resigned, the City of Lynnwood received a total of 18 potential appointee applicants; Escamilla was always at the top of his list, he shared adding that “so far she hasn’t disappointed.”
Hurst specifically noted Escamilla’s involvement in establishing a Lynnwood Youth Council which, he said, was driven by her passion and organization.
“I look forward to having [Escamilla] on the council. When she gets an idea, it’s going to happen, and that’s the type of council member I need,” said Hurst.
The woman of the hour, Escamilla herself, followed her speakers with a story about how she was able to afford a home in South Lynnwood several years ago and enrolled her children in Cedar Valley Community School due its free kindergarten.
Before long Escamilla became PSO for Cedar Valley where she learned about some of the issues the school faced, such as having limited access to its gymnasium (seeing as it was partly owned by the city), having just one toy per class and no grass to play on, and having limited funding to barely be able to afford snacks for school tests.
“This is what really invigorated my passion to figure out now only what was going on in my community but in my neighborhood,” said Escamilla. “I started getting out there and asking questions because I knew there was no way the parents didn’t care.”
This is also how Escamilla got involved in coaching youth basketball, she continued.
“I’ve always been a giver. I’ve always served for the greater good and for my people,” said Escamilla. “When I found myself at this role at Cedar Valley, I knew I had to be their voice, because they were telling me their concerns and what they wanted but they didn’t know that they had a voice, and on top of that there was a language barrier.”
Within six months of Escamilla’s grassroots campaign to make change, Cedar Valley had a new soccer field, a softball field, and a new toy.
“I am in the construction industry, and I have never seen a project move that fast. But I must have tugged on someone’s heart,” said Escamilla.
Escamilla shared that she is a “mom to so many children,” being a voice for her community, chaperoning every school field trip, and getting involved. She was “led” to city council, she continued, she “didn’t choose it.” She attributes this to her higher power leading her exactly where she needed to be to continue making changes.
“We need to be working together, as a community, as a city. We need to be advocating for our youth, and giving them a voice, and elevating them, and introducing them to safe spaces where they won’t be introduced into gangs in their apartment complexes because mom’s working two jobs,” said Escamilla. “I’m running my platform on safety, authenticity, and compassion because that’s what I’m about and that’s what this community deserves.”
Also in attendance, who didn’t speak, was Snohomish County Councilman and Washington State Representative Strom Peterson – one of Escamilla’s endorsements, Edmonds City Councilman William Paige, and Lynnwood City Council candidate Isabel Mata.
Escamilla is also endorsed by The Urbanist, First Mile, Sage Leaders, Washington State Progressive Caucus, the Everett Herald, 32nd LD Democrats, Affordable Housing Council, Fair Vote, former State Representative Ruth Kagi, State Rep. Lauren Davis, Mountlake Terrace City Councilman Dr. Steve Woodard, and former Lynnwood City Councilman Ian Cotton.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
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