Kate Gallego
Katharine Sarah Gallego (née Widland, born October 21, 1981) is an American politician serving as the 62nd mayor of Phoenix, Arizona since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served on the Phoenix City Council from 2014 to 2018. Early life and education. Gallego grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her parents are attorneys who moved to Albuquerque from Chicago after the 1979 Chicago blizzard. She grew up with asthma, which made air quality important to her. Gallego graduated from Albuquerque Academy, where she served as student body vice president. She earned a bachelor's degree  in environmental studies from Harvard College and a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Political career. Gallego worked for the Arizona Democratic Party, the Arizona Office of Tourism, as well as on economic development and strategic planning for the Salt River Project. On November 5, 2013, Gallego was elected to the Phoenix City Council for the 8th district; she was reelected in 2017. With Greg Stanton, the Mayor of Phoenix, running for the United States House of Representatives in the 2018 elections, Gallego announced she would run in a special election to succeed  him. She resigned from the city council effective August 7, 2018. In the first round of the mayoral election, Gallego received 45 percent and Daniel Valenzuela received 26 percent. She and Valenzuela advanced to a runoff election on March 12, which Gallego won. Gallego is the third woman to hold the office since Phoenix's founding. She is also the youngest mayor of one of the ten largest cities in the United States. Personal life. Gallego is Jewish, celebrating her bat mitzvah in Albuquerque. While attending Harvard, Kate met Ruben Gallego at a charity auction following the September 11 attacks . They moved to Phoenix in 2004, and married in 2010. The couple announced their divorce in 2016, prior to the birth of their child.