{{short description|American politician from Seattle|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Jan Drago |image = Jan Drago.jpg |caption = Jan Drago, 2010 |order = | office = Member of the King County Council<br>from the 8th district |term_start = January 4, 2010 |term_end = November 24, 2010 |president = |predecessor = Dow Constantine |successor = Joe McDermott |order2 = |office2 = Member of Seattle City Council for the 4th Position |term_start2 = January 1, 1994 |term_end2 = December 31, 2009 |predecessor2 = George Benson |successor2 = Sally Bagshaw |office3 = President of the Seattle City Council |term_start3 = January 3, 2004 |term_end3 = January 3, 2006 |predecessor3 = Peter Steinbrueck |successor3 = Nick Licata |term_start4 = January 3, 1996 |term_end4 = January 3, 1998 |predecessor4 = Jim Street |successor4 = Sue Donaldson |birth_place = |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1940|5|12}} |party = Democratic |spouse = Noel Drago |children = 4 |occupation = {{hlist|Politician|teacher}} |alma_mater = Rutgers University (BA) |profession = |committees = |portfolio = |signature = |website = |footnotes = }}

'''Jan Drago''' (born May 12, 1940) is an American politician and educator from Seattle who served on the Seattle City Council and King County Council.

==Early life and education== Drago was born May 12, 1940, in Lansing, Michigan.<ref name="HL">{{cite web |last1=Van Wigen |first1=Melinda |title=Drago, Janet "Jan" (b. 1940) |url=https://www.historylink.org/File/23199 |publisher=HistoryLink |access-date=31 August 2025 |date=February 13, 2025}}</ref> At 17, she owned a Tastee-Freez franchise where she met her husband, Noel.<ref name="HL"/> In 1959, the couple married and moved to New York, then New Jersey a year later.<ref name="HL"/> While in New Jersey, she graduated Douglass College, Rutgers University with a degree in psychology.<ref name="HL"/><ref name="AW">{{cite web |title=Jan Drago Records, 1984-2009 |url=https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv75085 |publisher=Archive West |access-date=31 August 2025}}</ref> After college, Drago taught preschool and kindergarten in a Head Start program, and managed Democratic political campaigns.<ref name="HL"/><ref name="AW"/> In 1978, Drago and her family relocated to Ohio for Noel's new job, but stayed a year before moving to Seattle.<ref name="HL"/>

After moving to Seattle, Drago opened a Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream Shoppes franchise throughout Seattle, including the Capitol Hill neighborhood and Pike Place Market.<ref name="HL"/> She became an advocate for downtown businesses, due to the increased homeless population in the area, and was active in the Downtown Seattle Association, First Avenue Association, and the Denny Regrade Crime Prevention Council.<ref name="HL"/>

==Seattle City Council== From 1994 to 2009, Drago was a member of Seattle City Council.

During that time, she was Council President (1996-1997 and 2004–2005),<ref>[https://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives/seattle-facts/city-officials/city-council-members/city-council-1946-2015/ Seattle City Archives]. Retrieved January 17, 2019</ref> chair of the Finance and Budget Committee (1999–2003)<ref>{{cite news |last=Mulady |first=Kathy |date=December 11, 2003|title=Drago often cited for work ethic |url=https://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Drago-often-cited-for-work-ethic-1185257.php |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |accessdate=January 17, 2019}}</ref> and chair of the Transportation Committee. She also served on the Housing and Economic Development Committee, and the Parks and Seattle Center Committee. She represented the council on the Puget Sound Regional Council and its Transportation Policy Board as well as King County's Regional Transportation Committee, the Trade Development Alliance, the Seattle Convention and Visitors’ Board, PortJobs Board, Seattle-Chongqing Sister Association, Seattle-Taejon Sister City Council, the Sister Cities Coordinating Council, and the Sister City Association. For eight years, she was a Council representative on the Civic Center Client Group.

On March 1, 2009, Drago announced her intention to retire from the Seattle City Council and not seek another term.<ref>{{cite news |last=staff |first=Seattle Times |date=March 1, 2009|title=Drago won't run again for Seattle council |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/drago-wont-run-again-for-seattle-council/ |work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=January 18, 2019}}</ref>

Drago's lasting impact, as a Seattle elected official, was on transportation. As a councilmember, Drago played a leading role in the success of a mega-project, the deep-bore tunnel under downtown that replaced the Alaskan Way Viaduct; in the transformation of a major arterial—the two-way Mercer Street—that helped develop the South Lake Union neighborhood now home to Amazon headquarters; and the beginning of the Seattle Streetcar network.<ref>{{cite news |last=Douglas |first=C.R. |date=December 27, 2009|title=How Jan Drago dragooned a Viaduct solution |url=https://crosscut.com/2009/12/best-2009-how-jan-drago-dragooned-viaduct-solution/|work=Crosscut |accessdate=January 18, 2019}}</ref>

On May 26, 2009, Drago declared that she was running for Mayor of Seattle, seeking to unseat two-term Mayor Greg Nickels.<ref>{{cite news |last=Heffter |first=Emily |date=March 27, 2009|title=It's official: Drago running for mayor |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/its-official-drago-running-for-mayor/|work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=January 18, 2019}}</ref> She ultimately finished fifth in the August 2009 primary election and failed to advance to the November general election.<ref>[https://data.kingcounty.gov/Election-results/City-of-Seattle-Mayor-Race-sums/tigf-impd/ King County Elections]. Retrieved January 18, 2019</ref>

==King County Council== On January 4, 2010, only four days after she had left the Seattle City Council, Drago was appointed to the King County Council, District 8. She filled the seat left vacant by Dow Constantine's election as King County Executive. As a condition of her appointment, she agreed not to seek the post in the November 2010 election.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ervin |first=Keith |date=January 4, 2010|title=Jan Drago sworn in, moves from City to County Council |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/jan-drago-sworn-in-moves-from-city-to-county-council/ |work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=January 28, 2019}}</ref>

==Personal life== Drago and her husband, Noel, are residents of Seattle's Pioneer Square, a downtown historic district, and have four sons, four grandsons, and a great-grandson.<ref name="HL"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drago, Jan}} Category:Living people Category:Seattle City Council members Category:King County Councillors Category:Women city councillors in Washington (state) Category:20th-century American women politicians Category:20th-century Washington (state) politicians Category:21st-century American women politicians Category:21st-century Washington (state) politicians Category:Rutgers University alumni Category:1940 births