Born in 1977 in Prosser, Washington, M. Lorena González was raised in Grandview in a Spanish-speaking migrant farmworker household. Her parents were undocumented immigrants who later became legal permanent residents. González earned a business degree from Washington State University and a law degree from Seattle University. In her work as an attorney, she focused mainly on civil rights, wage theft, and police misconduct cases. She became legal counsel to Mayor Ed Murray in 2014. González was elected to City Council in November 2015 and took office that month, filling a seat vacated earlier in the year by Sally Clark. On council, she worked on a range of issues including public safety, labor rights, preschool, gender equity, and immigrant rights. She served as Council President from 2020 to 2021. In the mayoral election of 2021, she advanced through the primary but was defeated in the general election.