Aarti Kaushal

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Aarti Kaushal

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

University of California, Irvine, 1996

Graduate

Chapman University

Personal

Religion

Hinduism

Profession

Student life coach

Contact

Campaign Instagram

Aarti Kaushal ran for election to the Irvine Ranch Water District to represent Division 4 in California. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Kaushal also ran for election to the South Orange County Community College District to represent District 1 in California. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Kaushal completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Aarti Kaushal was born in England. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Irvine, and a master's degree from Chapman University. Kaushal's career experience includes working as a student life coach, educator, grassroots organizer, and activist. She is also a commissioner for the City of Irvine Child Care Committee.

Elections

2020

South Orange Community College District

See also: Municipal elections in Orange County, California (2020)

General election

General election for South Orange County Community College District District 1

Carolyn Inmon defeated Helen Locke, Aarti Kaushal, and Matt Waid in the general election for South Orange County Community College District District 1 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Carolyn Inmon (Nonpartisan)	46.6	194,719
	Submit photo	Helen Locke (Nonpartisan)	29.0	121,487
		Aarti Kaushal (Nonpartisan)	15.1	63,076
		Matt Waid (Nonpartisan)	9.3	38,937

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 418,219
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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General election

General election for Irvine Ranch Water District Division 4

Karen McLaughlin defeated incumbent Mary Aileen Matheis and Aarti Kaushal in the general election for Irvine Ranch Water District Division 4 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Karen McLaughlin (Nonpartisan)	54.0	16,596
	Submit photo	Mary Aileen Matheis (Nonpartisan)	39.2	12,054
		Aarti Kaushal (Nonpartisan)	6.9	2,107

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 30,757
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Aarti Kaushal completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kaushal's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

For over 26 years, I have been a teacher, educator, student life coach, and grassroots organizer/activist for students, youth, and women in Irvine/OC. A former elementary special education teacher, I understand the devastating impact school closures has had on all students. As a longtime trusted advocate in my community, I remain closely connected to the ever-changing needs of vulnerable students attending community college as their only higher education option left in this ongoing pandemic.

An Irvine resident for 34+ years, I was raised in Irvine USD's world class schools as a 1st generation Indian American woman of color raised by a single mother, and I bring a strong track record for collaborative solutions. My leadership will ensure accountability, equitable access, and sustainable budget provisions for all essential services. College campuses will reopen safely for the overall wellbeing of every student, faculty, and employee. Ensuring that curriculum matches current social changes is also my goal, to ensure representation of all diverse student body experiences.

I am proudly endorsed by hundreds of parents, educators, faculty, elected leaders, and PAC's from Irvine, Orange County and beyond, ensuring all stakeholders' voices will be included for an exceptional higher educational experience. Please reach me at aarti4socccd1@gmail.com.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Reopen Safely-We need to work with health experts and rely on science to safely reopen our campuses for the overall wellbeing of every student, faculty, and employee.
• Sustainable Budget-We need to ensure the District's Budget keeps higher education affordable and provides for all essential services, especially during the ongoing pandemic.
• Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Change-Our curriculum needs to match the current social changes and reflect the experiences of the diverse student body.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Aarti strongly believes the combination of literacy, vocational skills and workforce training, STEAM opportunities, entrepreneurial ventures, and active civic engagement are all equalizers required to create successful economic opportunities to level the field - especially for vulnerable and marginalized populations. From 2008-2018, she did special needs' advocacy and ran support groups with various ADHD, dyslexia, and autism organizations, while raising awareness about "1-in-5" students having invisible learning disabilities. December 2016 to April 2018 was dedicated to creating a "Taboo Topics' Facebook talk show, raising awareness of the following: removing stigma of disabilities and mental health, the school-to-prison pipeline, OC Women's March, gun violence prevention, protests for homeless housing, and local city council candidate interviews. Taboo Topics helped her become an increasingly informed and engaged activist in many local campaigns as a strong voice lobbying for various social issues.
From April to June 2019, she traveled to Sacramento to lobby for gun safety, gun violence prevention, mental health legislation, affordable housing, and increasing federal special education funding. She attended state party conventions in San Francisco and Long Beach, connecting with many Asian American/AAPI elected leaders from all levels, local to national, and worked on many public issue campaigns that have shaped local and state policies. She serves as a member of many organ

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

Currently, Aarti has qualified on the Nov. 3rd presidential election ballot for the South Orange County Community College District, Trustee Area 1 race. SOCCCD includes Irvine Valley College, Saddleback College, and ATEP in Tustin Legacy; Trustee Area 1 represents most of Irvine. In these challenging times, community colleges increasingly offer exceptional possibilities for a world-class higher education experience. Aarti's youth-powered campaign and message has energized and resonated with voters from diverse ages, backgrounds, and political affiliations, bringing her pragmatic solution-generating prowess and solid leadership to these three institutions. While this is the largest nonpartisan race in all of OC (over 580,000 voters), the sum total of Aarti's experience and track record positions her well to win this race.

As a down ballot candidate, she is running in this election's most critical local race, because representation matters. Vote for Aarti Kaushal Chopra on November 3rd - she is the only candidate committed to advancing higher education and economic opportunities for all hard-working Americans.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

In June 2020, during the heart of the lockdown and immediately following George Floyd's death by police, Aarti helped organize a ground-breaking event in Irvine. Along with two prominent Indian American community leaders, they held a "Gandhi Peace March and Unity Rally" with the goal of showing support for black lives lost to injustice. Powerful speakers, including youth, extolled the teachings from the most prominent civil rights' leaders - Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela - of nonviolent civil disobedience against systematic racism, oppressive brutality, and towards freedom. Despite opposition and organizational challenges due to city closures, this socially distanced event was well-attended by over 60 enthusiastic, committed peace and unity marchers and city council members, and was endorsed by the city and Irvine Police Department.

This event became an unprecedented game-changer for Indian/South Asian Americans; it helped open up conversations around racial tensions and law enforcement brutality against blacks and marginalized people of color. Aarti has built alliances with the esteemed speakers who represent different organizations; the event's special guest Pastor Williamson of OC's second largest black church (COR AME Church) has become an ardent supporter of her grassroots organizing efforts as a woman of color. Together with other leaders, they are committed to working for justice through voter empowerment on issues faced by immigrants, communities of color, women, and youth.

The Gandhi Peace March and Unity Rally also led to Aarti being recently appointed to the "Diversity Council" for the campaign of Lauren Johnson-Norris for Irvine City Council.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

A longtime educator and student wellness advocate, Aarti's leadership will focus on:

Overseeing safe reopening of Irvine Valley College, Saddleback College, and ATEP
Collaborating and balancing fiscal accountability and sustainability for essential services
Fair, equitable access for educational and/or employment opportunities for students, faculty, and
employees
Providing overall curriculum and training that is affordable, socially and economically relevant, while

retaining world-class higher education experiences.

What legacy would you like to leave?

Even during the ongoing pandemic, Aarti has shown to be a highly effective, out-of-the-box thinker with a successful track record of creative problem solving. Her unifying leadership approach towards grassroots coalition-building assures that student social justice and employment issues will be a laser focus, solidified by the following honorable recognition:

January - one of only seven residents interviewed for "STORYCORPS - Stories From the OC", by prominent female Haitian American activist, Guerline Josef. Interview is nationally archived forever in the U.S. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (link here): https://archive.storycorps.org/interviews/conversation-with-the-phenomenal-aarti-kaushal-chopra-a- south-asian-immigrant-womans-voice/.

February - Honorable Irvine City Councilmember Melissa Fox made Aarti her newest city commissioner to the "Child Care Committee", which then appointed her as liaison to the "ICYFAC - Irvine Children, Youth, and Families Advisory Council".

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

Immediately after this election run, COVID-19 completely upended the lives and traditional educational experiences of all K-12 and college students, forcing prolonged institutional closures. This made Aarti even more committed to empowering students of all ages regarding their overall wellbeing, ensuring equitable educational access, training, and career opportunities, as schools and colleges remain online while awaiting safe reopening.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

Aarti believes all levels of government must shift focus from divisiveness to collaborative, visionary leadership, sound legislation and policies, incorporate voices of all citizens/stakeholders, remove voter suppression through increased registration and education - because she knows representation matters. To translate and evolve these beliefs into practice, she decided to run as a candidate in local elections. She ran in the March Primary for the 74th Assembly District on the Central Committee of the OC Democratic Party, and was the only AAPI immigrant woman in this most competitive central committee race. As a new candidate, she secured an impressive 6061 votes from Irvine and Coastal OC Democratic voters, who related to her platform of student mental health and positive representation for women of color and Asian Americans. These were also twice the amount of votes received compared to candidates with longtime party involvement and Members' of Congress endorsements.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Aarti Kaushal did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

See also

2020 Elections

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