About Larry
Personal and professional
Larry Ishmael is running for Congress in Washington 1st Congressional District. He is a leader with the most experience that will work the hardest to solve our most pressing economic, environmental, energy, and educational problems.
As the former president of the Issaquah Chamber of Commerce, Larry Ishmael had a strong hand in improving the economy of our region and working with city, state and federal officials to create public/public and public private partnerships to stretch your tax dollar.
As an internationally renowned environmentalist, Larry was an architect of the Sao Paulo Clean Air Project, the world’s largest, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Sao Paulo is the second largest city in the Southern Hemisphere with over 22 million people and is more populous than any single state in the Union.
Larry also served as the President of the school board in the Issaquah School District, one of Washington state’s most successful school districts. He fought tirelessly to increase classroom funding and to decrease unfunded mandates from the state and federal government.
Larry Ishmael has in-depth, real world experience solving environmental, economic, and educational issues. These are not just Larry’s concerns, they are areas that he has had significant impact in on a global scale.
Larry will cut through partisan politics to lead the rest of Congress to solve these problems — in the best interest of all citizens. He will always work to represent the people rather than a political party or special interest groups. His focus is on representing YOU in Congress.
Larry’s Mission:
To use common sense solutions and his extensive experience in both the public and private sectors to finally solve our most pressing problems: fixing and growing the economy, strengthening our public education system, and keeping our environment clean.
Personal Life:
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Larry is the son of a retired federal law enforcement officer father and an accountant mother. As members of the Muscogee Creek Nation, the Ishmael family moved to Oklahoma when it was the “Indian Territory” (modern day Oklahoma). Their descendants are active members in the tribe, including Larry’s father, Kenneth. Larry’s believes in the power of education. Although his grandfather was forced to attend Indian schools where he only got a 3rd grade education, just two generations later Larry was able to graduate from the University of Oklahoma (B.A. in Economics), The Thunderbird School of Global Management (MBA in International Management), and he will graduate from the University of Stellenbosch (Western Cape, South Africa) with a Ph.D. in Economics with a specialization in Sustainable Development in December 2012 at the age of 60. Larry believes that it is never too late to improve yourself, and his Ph.D. is proof of that.