Mucarsel-Powell, Debbie, 1971-

Debbie Jessika Mucarsel-Powell (born January 18, 1971) is an American academic administrator and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as a U.S. Representative for Florida's 26th congressional district from 2019 to 2021. Mucarsel-Powell was the first Ecuadorian American and first South American-born immigrant to serve as a member of the U.S. House and the U.S. Congress.

Born Debbie Jessika Mucarsel Gil in Guayaquil, Ecuador, she immigrated to the United States when she was 14 years old. She attended Pomona Catholic High School in Pomona, California before earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Pitzer College and a Master of Arts in international political economy from Claremont Graduate University. Mucarsel-Powell worked for non-profits like the Hope Center, Zoo Miami Foundation, and the Coral Restoration Foundation. From 2003 to 2007, she served as the director of development at Florida International University (FIU). She was the associate vice president for advancement at the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine from 2007 to 2011. Mucarsel-Powell later became an associate dean at the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. In 2016, she lost a bid for the Florida Senate.

In August 2017, Mucarsel-Powell announced she would challenge Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo in Florida's 26th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives in the 2018 elections. In the November 6 general election, Mucarsel-Powell defeated Curbelo, receiving 50.9% of the vote. She was defeated for re-election by the Republican nominee, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Giménez, in 2020. In April 2021, Mucarsel-Powell joined Giffords as a senior adviser, with the goal of lobbying the U.S. Senate to pass the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021.