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Merry Taheri
Merry Taheri (Democratic Party) ran for election to the California State Assembly to represent District 69. She lost in the primary on June 7, 2022.
Taheri completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Merry Taheri was born in New York, New York. She earned a Ph.D. from Citrus College in 1993 and the University of California, San Francisco, in 2019. Her career experience includes working as a nurse practitioner, educator, humanitarian, advocate, and entrepreneur. Taheri has been affiliated with CANP, AANP, CNA, and SEIU. She has served with the Nurse Alliance as a committee member.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: California State Assembly elections, 2022
General election
General election for California State Assembly District 69
Josh Lowenthal defeated Al Austin in the general election for California State Assembly District 69 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Josh Lowenthal (D) | 58.9 | 62,582 |
 | Al Austin (D) | 41.1 | 43,686 | |
| Total votes: 106,268 | |||
 = 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. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for California State Assembly District 69
Josh Lowenthal and Al Austin defeated Janet Foster and Merry Taheri in the primary for California State Assembly District 69 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Josh Lowenthal (D) | 45.6 | 30,919 |
| ✔ | | Al Austin (D) | 26.5 | 17,985 |
| Janet Foster (D) | 18.9 | 12,790 | ||
 | Merry Taheri (D) | 8.9 | 6,052 | |
| Total votes: 67,746 | |||
| = 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 finance
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Merry Taheri completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Taheri's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Dr. Merry Taheri is the first Afghan-American Nurse Practitioner running for the California State Assembly, District 69 to bring the perspective of a wife, mother, and health professional, and advocate the important work of moving our state forward. District 69, which includes parts of Long Beach, Carson, Signal Hill, and Avalon deserves a representative who has on-the-ground experience addressing the health needs of real people. The pandemic has exposed the weaknesses in our system and the inequities in health access that too many residents in District 69 — and throughout our state — confront on a daily basis.
Overcoming obstacles and challenges is nothing new for Merry. As a young girl in Afghanistan, Merry was orphaned when her father, a surgeon, along with her mother and younger sister were assassinated by the Russian military. Merry's father's persistent refusal to join the Communist regime and desire to help humanity ultimately cost them their lives. Merry was only seven, and after being smuggled out of Afghanistan with her only surviving sibling, she returned to the United States where she was born.
- Housing Provide incentives for responsible developers and homeowners to make efficient use of land. Mixed-use neighborhoods increase walkability, diversity, and opportunities to live near jobs and transit centers. 60% of residents in Long Beach are renters. Tenant protection is essential to ensure that families are not at risk of needless eviction into homelessness. Break down red tape allowing for a more streamlined process of ADU approval for supplemental rental income and more housing options.
- Healthcare Healthcare is a fundamental right. Establish universal coverage in California. Expand access to reproductive services.
- Education Provide mental health services to students, faculty, and school administrators. The pandemic has devastated our youths academically and emotionally. Improve technical training to prepare our workforce for the jobs of tomorrow. Expand free tuition at community colleges to all.
In California, there are 150,000 experiencing homelessness of which 70,000 are in Los Angeles County and 3,000 in Long Beach.
Housing first is the best solution for the homelessness crisis. Our homeless population in Los Angeles County has increased by 12% every year. People become homeless when they can no longer afford housing, healthcare, and inability to overcome disabilities. People need stable homes so that they can successfully be treated. In addition to temporary shelters, we need to build more permanently affordable housing. Project home key has successfully converted motels into permanent supportive housing, this is the best method to reduce the homelessness crisis. The best way of preventing homelessness is to make sure that people have the resources to stay in their homes.
On average, it costs $40,000 to support a person experiencing homelessness per year. If we put a fraction of this amount into keeping people in their homes we would reduce the homeless population.
California has designated $12 billion dollars into homelessness services. Because there is no reporting, we don’t know how the resources are spent. It is important for us to have reports from the city, county, and agencies that provide care for people experiencing homelessness.
Currently, we do not have transparency on how cities and counties are spending state money for homelessness.
Healthcare is a fundamental right. Healthcare should not be a profit-driven venture. Many times people become homeless because they have an illness and are unable to pay for their healthcare.
It hurts to have lost my entire family at such an early age, every day I can choose to dwell on this or make the most of this amazing opportunity called life that has been bestowed upon me so that I can help make others smile and give them hope that I believe in.
Housing and health.
All three that I mentioned: homelessness, housing, and health are intertwined and one affects the other in a great way. Therefore, it is essential that all three of these greatest challenges need to be addressed urgently.
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.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate California State Assembly District 69 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 20, 2022
