About Marilyn Strickland
Marilyn Strickland was born in South Korea and went on to serve in the US House of Representatives representing WA. Marilyn Strickland's career in Congress began in 2021, during the modern Congress, and has continued into the current session — 5 years and counting. As a Democrat, Marilyn sat in a chamber where most colleagues were born in the United States; naturalized citizens remain a small minority of Congress in every era.
South Korea grants limited political rights to foreign-born residents — typically at the local or municipal level — but bars non-citizens from national elections and from serving in its own legislature. In practical terms: Permanent foreign residents with 3+ years of residence may vote in local elections only. Non-citizens cannot vote in national elections. The contrast with the US experience is sharp. A naturalized American moving to South Korea might influence a town council vote, but would be shut out of the national legislature — the exact institution this member was sent to represent Americans in.
South Korea has sent 3 naturalized citizens to Congress in total. WA has elected 2 foreign-born Congress members across its history, so Marilyn's path from naturalization to Capitol Hill is not unique to that state — but it remains exceptional nationally. Across the full history of the US Congress, South Korea ranks 10th of 38 tracked birth countries, accounting for 3 naturalized-citizen lawmakers.
Why does South Korea's own voting regime matter on an American member's profile? Because it frames a question the US Congress itself wrestles with whenever immigration and citizenship come up: which countries extend the same democratic trust to people who arrived later that the United States extended to Marilyn? South Korea's answer is partial and largely symbolic: a vote for dog-catcher, perhaps, but not for parliament.