Lisa Jo Brown[1] (born October 9, 1956) is an American politician and educator who is the current mayor of Spokane, Washington.

She has also served as the chancellor of Washington State University Spokane, a position she stepped down from in order to mount an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. House.

She returned to politics in 2018, running to represent Washington's 5th congressional district against Republican incumbent Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

In 2023, Brown resigned from the Washington State Department of Commerce to launch a campaign for Mayor of Spokane in that year's election, which she won against the incumbent, Nadine Woodward.

[5][6] Outside of politics, Brown worked in higher education and public leadership positions as a professor, a university administrator and she is currently the director of the Washington State Department of Commerce.

[7] Brown began working as an associate professor of economics at Eastern Washington University in 1981, a position she would hold until 2001.

[10][11] In 2016, Brown accompanied former Lieutenant Governor of Washington Brad Owen to Cuba on a fact-finding trip concerning healthcare.

[12] Washington Governor Jay Inslee appointed Brown as director of the Department of Commerce on January 29, 2019.

[3] Following her resignation, she announced her campaign for Mayor of Spokane, challenging incumbent Nadine Woodward in the 2023 election.

[19] In 1995, when the state had a budget surplus, Brown criticized Republicans for not offering tax breaks to middle class families.

[22] Washington law, passed by voter initiative I-960, requires that a two-thirds majority be reached in the legislature on bills which raise taxes.

[25] Brown's time in the House coincided with a national movement for welfare reform, a large part of President Bill Clinton's agenda.

[28] Brown, during her 2018 campaign for the House of Representatives, proposed the U.S. federal government provide a public option for health insurance, the lowering of the age of eligibility for Medicare, and the expansion of Medicaid.

[31] During a December 20, 2017, town hall, Brown opposed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Republican-supported legislation which had been passed earlier that month, which lowered personal and corporate tax rates, and repealed the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act.

Brown criticized the bill, saying it was unfairly beneficial to wealthier Americans, increased the deficit, and forced tax cuts to programs such as health care and agriculture.

[38] Brown married Spokane City Council policy adviser Brian McClatchey on October 9, 2017.