Shireen Ghorbani

Shireen Ghorbani (Persian: شیرین قربانی‎) is an American politician from Utah. She is an at-large member of the Salt Lake County Council, representing 1.1 million residents. She was elected in 2019 to fill the vacancy created when Jenny Wilson became Salt Lake County Mayor. She also ran unsuccessfully to represent Utah 2nd congressional district in 2018 against Chris Stewart.

Ghorbani was born and raised in North Dakota.She was raised by a single mother; her father was from Iran.

Ghorbani did her undergraduate work at St. Cloud University in Minnesota, and got a master's degree from the University of Nebraska.Then she moved to Utah in 2009 to earn a second graduate degree at the University of Utah. She worked there as a communications professional until assuming her role as a Salt Lake Councilwoman.

2018 US House of Representatives Election

Ghorbani ran for U. S. Congress in the 2018 election against Representative Chris Stewart, who represents Utah's 2nd district. Ghorbani stated that she decided to run because of the debate on health care, and specifically Stewart's repeatedly voting against Obamacare.Her mother had died from pancreatic cancer just days after being diagnosed. Ghorbani was featured on the January 29 cover of TIME magazine, together with 47 other women who were running for office.

Ghorbani focused on affordable healthcare during her campaign. She also opposed the Trump tax cut (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017), called for bipartisan cooperation, and argued for immigration reform. She says she tried to run a campaign that was "intentionally" positive. She did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit

Ghorbani received campaign donations from over 2200 individuals, and did not accept donations from corporate PAC donors. As of April 2018, Stewart had six times the cash on hand as Ghorbani.

Ghorbani lost to Stewart with 105,051 votes to Stewart's 151,489. After her concession speech, Stewart called her "a great opponent."

2018 Salt Lake County Elections

After her loss to Stewart, Ghorbani ran for Salt Lake County Mayor, after an opening was created when Ben McAdams was elected to the U. S. Congress.She lost that election to Jenny Wilson.

Ghorbani then ran again, this time in the race to fill Jenny Wilson's vacant seat on the Salt Lake County Council. She expressed a vision of improving mass transit, reforming the criminal justice system and becoming a renewable energy leader. In that race, Ghorbani won, beating nine other candidates.

Salt Lake County Council

Ghorbani introduced and supported a measure to transition Salt Lake County to 100% renewable energy. The measure was successful. The measure only applies to residents in unincorporated Salt Lake County, not in incorporated cities.