Meet Iranian American candidates for 2016 elections: New York, California, Washington
Persian News Search Engine, Kodoom.com, News Exclusive: Several Americans of Iranian ancestry are running for office in 2016 and counting on grassroots community votes and contributions:
Dr. Max (Mehran) Gouron is a physician anesthesiologist who has lived in Tustin, California since 1999. He is running for US Congress from California's District 45, which includes most of South Orange County, including Irvine, Tustin, Lake Forest, and parts of Mission Viejo, Laguna Woods, Laguna Hills, Anaheim Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, Villa Park, and El Modena. If elected he will be the first Iranian American in Congress. He is running as a Democrat and hopes to replace the incumbent Republican Congresswoman currently in office who has consistently voted against the interest of Iranian Americans, including the passage of HR158, the bill which restricts dual-national Iranians when traveling abroad.
The State of California's primary elections are on June 7th. There are four candidates running for Congress and only the two who receive the highest votes in June will advance to the general elections in November. relying heavily on community and people's support, Dr. Gouron has urged everyone to spread the word about his candidacy to family and friends.
Marjan Ghafourpour Philhour is a candidate for San Francisco Board of Supervisors from District 1 (Richmond District). Born in the Richmond District of San Francisco to an Iranian father and a Filipino mother, Philhour grew up in the Bay Area and is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley. She spent four years in the U.S. House of Representatives serving as a legislative aide to Members of Congress. After returning home to California, Philhour served as senior advisor to Governor Gray Davis’ chief of staff. She is a member of San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC).
As a working mother of three young children and a small business owner with experience in the complexities of City Hall, Marjan plans to lead a responsive public partnership between the City and local residents to help the Richmond thrive. If elected, Marjan would be the first Filipino-American, and the first Iranian-American woman, to serve on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Her husband Byron is a high school physics teacher.
Ahsha Safai is running for the office of the Supervisor of District 11, the most diverse district in San Francisco. Ahsha Safai was born in Iran in 1973. At the age of five, he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts with his mother where he later received his bachelor's degree in African American Studies and Political Science from Northeastern University and his master's degree in Urban Studies and City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Ahsha later moved to San Francisco, taking a position with the city's Housing Authority. In 2003, he joined Gavin Newsom's campaign for Mayor and later served as the Deputy Director for the Mayor's Office of Community Development and in the San Francisco Department of Public Works. Since moving to San Francisco, Safai has encouraged Iranian Americans to get involved in local politics and public service. As a field operator for Newsom's first mayoral campaign, Safai has ensured regular meetings between Mayor Newsom and the Iranian American community.
Iranian American Councilwoman (in North Hempstead Town in New York), Anna Monahemi Kaplan is running for the 3rd Congressional seat of retiring New York Representative Steve Israel. Kaplan was born to an Iranian Jewish family in Tabriz who left Iran after the 1979 revolution. Her family moved to New York where Kaplan attended the Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University and Benjamin Cardozo School of Law.
Washington State Senator Cyrus Habib is running for the Washington State Lieutenant Governor and has asked supporters to join him and Gavin Newsom at his campaign kickoff on May 16. If successful, Habib will become the first Iranian American to be elected to the position of Lieutenant Governor, the highest officer of a state after the Governor.
Habib grew up in Bellevue, Washington, and is a proud product of its public schools. Having lost his eyesight at age 8 to a rare form of childhood cancer, he learned early the importance of equal opportunity, hard work, and a quality education. After winning a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford, Habib attended Yale Law School, where he served as editor of the law review. He returned to Washington following his graduation, and worked at the Seattle-based law firm of Perkins Coie. In 2014, Habib was elected with 65% of the vote to represent the 48th Legislative District in the Washington State Senate. Immediately after his election to the State Senate, Habib was elected Senate Democratic Whip by his fellow Democrats, placing him in one of the top leadership positions in the State Senate. Prior to his 2014 election, Habib served as Representative for Washington's 48th House Legislative District.
During his tenures in the state legislature, Habib has sponsored and helped pass many pieces of legislation, including a 2015 Nowruz resolution which underscores the spirit of Nowruz shared by millions across the globe, including the tens of thousands of Iranian American residents in Washington State.
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