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Naren Briar, an American-Kurdish woman, recently elected to the Bellevue City Council in Washington state, during an interview with Rudaw's Diyar Kurda on Friday, November 14, 2025. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Naren Briar, an American-Kurdish woman who was recently elected to the Bellevue City Council in Washington state, said the path to victory held many challenges and she owes her win to the Kurdish community in the United States.
"We faced a lot of challenges, actually. First, money. When you field a candidacy, you have to raise funds. My team told me that I had to reach out to everyone and ask for money. Growing up as a Kurd, I found it overwhelming and even shameful. During the first weeks, American Kurds raised nearly $20,000. Had it not been for them, I would not have been able to do it," Briar, who originally hails from the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw on Friday.
"The second challenge I encountered was that I competed against Conrad Lee who had been in office 1994, before I was even born. He had never lost an election. So no one thought I would succeed,” she added.
In the November 6 vote, she won 51.27 percent of the votes, defeating Lee, who received 48.45 percent of the votes. Briar is the first Kurdish-American woman elected to office in the United States.
She said she wants to focus on four priorities.
"I have four main tasks to carry out. First, housing. Second, city safety. Third, building walking spaces. Fourth, developing the sector of art in our city," she said.
Bellevue is the third largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area, with a population of more than 151,800. The city is known as an economic and technological hub and is home to a number of technology companies, including Pacer Health, Inc, T-Mobile and Valve Corporation. Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in Bellevue in 1994.
"I feel excited, at the same time nervous. I did a lot of work to gain people's trust," Briar said, adding she is ready to do her best "to not lose the people's confidence."
"I was the first-ever Kurd to be elected to office in the history of America. I am really honored and it is a huge source of pride for me," she proudly said.
Briar was born in Texas to a Kurdish father and mother from Sulaimani and Halabja, in the Kurdistan Region.
Diyar Kurda contributed to this article.
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