Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Shervin Aazami
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Shervin Aazami (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 32nd Congressional District. He lost in the primary on June 7, 2022.
Aazami completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Shervin Aazami was born in Bologna, Italy. Aazami earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Los Angeles in 2013, a graduate degree from George Washington University in 2019, and a graduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2020. His career experience includes working as the legislative director of the National Indian Health Board, a national indigenous healthcare nonprofit organization.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: California's 32nd Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House California District 32
Incumbent Brad Sherman defeated Lucie Volotzky in the general election for U.S. House California District 32 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Brad Sherman (D) | 69.2 | 167,411 |
 | Lucie Volotzky (R) | 30.8 | 74,618 | |
| Total votes: 242,029 | |||
 = 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 U.S. House California District 32
The following candidates ran in the primary for U.S. House California District 32 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brad Sherman (D) | 53.7 | 88,063 |
| ✔ | | Lucie Volotzky (R) | 19.7 | 32,342 |
 | Shervin Aazami (D) | 9.2 | 15,036 | |
 | Melissa Toomim (R) | 8.5 | 13,926 | |
 | Aarika Rhodes (D) | 5.3 | 8,744 | |
 | Jason Potell (D) | 1.8 | 2,943 | |
 | Raji Rab (D) | 1.8 | 2,938 | |
| Total votes: 163,992 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Mumin Khan (D)
Endorsements
To view Aazami's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Shervin Aazami completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Aazami's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
I am an Iranian American, an immigrant, and a public health activist that grew up here in the West San Fernando Valley (Canoga Park and Chatsworth). Born in Bologna, Italy, I am the son of two asylum seekers who fled religious persecution in Iran during the time of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. I grew up watching my mom work long hours, nights, weekends, and holidays at a department store to make ends meet for the family, while my dad took the bus to and from California State University Northridge and studied to become a family doctor. From an early age, I learned the power of responsibility from my mother and the power of service from my father.
As I grew up, I thrust himself into public service and the fight for social justice through the lens of public health. While in college I joined student groups advocating for climate justice by addressing the impact of the city’s toxic urban runoff on low-income Black and Latinx neighborhoods, and later worked for a residential treatment facility where I witnessed how our broken healthcare system criminalizes mental health and substance use issues, and fails to meet people where they are at. Before deciding to run for office in my hometown (CA-30), I worked on Capitol Hill as the legislative director for a national Indigenous healthcare non-profit fighting to ensure the federal government honors its Treaty obligations to Tribal Nations. My wife and I are proudly expecting our first child in June 2021.
Guarantee Housing for All as a human right
- Enact single-payer Medicare for All to ensure everyone has zero-cost comprehensive healthcare
- Immediately transition to 100% renewable energy economy and create millions of union jobs with a Green New Deal
As a public health professional, I see the intersectionality of our issues. It is impossible to separate the impact of access to basic necessities like housing, education, living-wages, and clean air and water on our community health. That is why I am so passionate about enacting the structural reforms necessary to uplift and empower working people, and end corporate welfare. As a healthcare policy analyst, I have a deep understanding and passion for fixing our broken and expensive healthcare system. Healthcare comprises a fifth of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and costs us over $11,500 per person - yet millions of Americans remain uninsured or under-insured. The injustices in our nation are the rotten fruits borne out from the generational impacts of institutional racism, classism, and unfettered capitalism - rotten fruits cultivated by broken leadership in Congress. Our elected leaders - both Democratic and Republican - have been financed and controlled by corporations who lobby for legislation that improves their bottom line at the direct expense of working people. Here in the San Fernando Valley, our community has directly experienced the destructive impact of corporate welfare on housing affordability, rates of poverty, and access to healthcare, to name a few. We are the wealthiest nation in the world, and there is zero reason why we cannot guarantee the basic necessities we all need to survive - especially housing and healthcare. What we lack is the political will.
There have been many civil rights leaders that have inspired and informed my philosophy on politics and public policy. One of my most revered quotes is from James Baldwin, where he said "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." The central message in that quote is that our advocacy is all that we have. When we make our voices heard and fight for the dignity and human rights of our neighbors, we are fighting for a stronger, more equitable, and more inclusive future for all. Indeed, we are helping ourselves by uplifting and empowering our community. My entire life has been devoted to fighting for social justice through the lens of public health, and that commitment defines who I am.
Integrity is a hard quality to find in a politician. The corruption and institutional racism that exists throughout our political system have understandably left millions of Americans jaded and mistrusting of government. But leaders like Bernie Sanders have invigorated a new generation of young people who are sick and tired of incremental changes, lip service, and corporate welfare. Bernie is an inspiration because he has been fighting for the exact same changes for decades. His dedication to the structural reforms we need to serve working people and end the stranglehold of corporate influence on our elected officials is an inspiration. We need more true progressives who will not only speak truth to power, but demand power for working people and dismantle white supremacy. Our democracy is too important to abandon - and I will advocate each and everyday to enact a democracy of community, of transparency, of service, and of the working class.
Integrity is a hard quality to find in a politician. The corruption and institutional racism that exists throughout our political system have understandably left millions of Americans jaded and mistrusting of government. But leaders like Bernie Sanders have invigorated a new generation of young people who are sick and tired of incremental changes, lip service, and corporate welfare. Bernie is an inspiration because he has been fighting for the exact same changes for decades. His dedication to the structural reforms we need to serve working people and end the stranglehold of corporate influence on our elected officials is an inspiration. We need more true progressives who will not only speak truth to power, but demand power for working people and dismantle white supremacy. Our democracy is too important to abandon - and I will advocate each and everyday to enact a democracy of community, of transparency, of service, and of the working class.
Integrity, transparency, and courage. These three principles must be the north star for any elected official - and they define my campaign. Our constituents and communities are our bosses, quite literally. Our job is to have the courage to advocate each and everyday for the structural reforms we need to guarantee the basic human rights of every American, including undocumented Americans. We must have the integrity to stay true to our promises and policy goals, and to our position as a public servant. And we must be transparent with our community, and openly communicate our efforts to accomplish the reforms we've been entrusted to fight for, and to be open and honest about our mistakes and shortcomings to the public.
The most pressing issue in our district is housing. When it comes to housing affordability and homelessness, Los Angeles is ground zero. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Los Angeles had over 66,000 unhoused people in Los Angeles County are houseless - the second highest rate in the nation. From 2019 to 2020, every city council district in the San Fernando Valley saw rates of our unhoused community members increase - some as high as by 25% such as in Chatsworth and Canoga Park. Like most crises, LA’s housing crisis falls on racial fault lines. Black Angelenos makeup under 8% of the city population, but nearly 34% of our unhoused. Further, Black and Latinx Angelenos collectively comprise about 56% of the county population, yet nearly 70% of our unhoused. Our unhoused are disproportionately impacted by mental illness, substance use, and police brutality. In fact, 1 in 3 instances of “use of excessive force” by the LAPD were against an unhoused individual.
It is past time that our federal laws recognized that housing is an inherent human right and eradicated the systemic racial inequities in housing affordability and access. In short, enacting comprehensive legislation that guarantees housing for all is the legacy I hope to leave. I am committed to championing a national housing-first model and enacting a federal Tenant Bill of Rights.
It is past time that our federal laws recognized that housing is an inherent human right and eradicated the systemic racial inequities in housing affordability and access. In short, enacting comprehensive legislation that guarantees housing for all is the legacy I hope to leave. I am committed to championing a national housing-first model and enacting a federal Tenant Bill of Rights.
After Many A Summer by Aldous Huxley. True to Huxley's form, the novel is a fantastic commentary on class struggle, corporate greed, and American culture.
The most pressing challenge before us is climate change. We have nine years to mitigate catastrophic climate chaos across the globe by transitioning to 100% renewable energy. The environmental impacts of climate change have tangible, significant, and severe impacts on human health and continue to worsen population health disparities. Here in Los Angeles, environmental racism and injustice runs deep. There remain roughly 1,000 abandoned oil wells in the city of Los Angeles which continue to emit noxious carcinogens like formaldehyde and benzene into the air - the vast majority of which are located in close proximity to Black and Latinx neighborhoods. Here in the San Fernando Valley, the Aliso Canyon gas leak - the largest methane leak in U.S. history at 109,000 metric tons - has yet to be closed. In the East Valley neighborhood of Sun Valley and Pacoima, SoCalGas and the City of Los Angeles colluded to cover up a three-year long gas leak that has disproportionately impacted working class Latinx communities. And the worst nuclear meltdown in U.S. history, which occurred in 1959 at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in our district, has yet to even begin cleanup despite numerous scientific studies finding exponentially high levels of noxious contaminants including cyanide, arsenic, heavy metals, and other dangerous chemicals. When the Woolsey Fire broke out in 2018 by the Santa Susana lab, it dramatically amplified the release of these noxious chemicals into the air and surrounding groundwater. As wildfires only grow in severity across our state, the risk of similar catastrophes grow with it. Structural racism and the legacies of redlining have left Indigenous, Black and Latinx communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis, as they experience the harshest impacts of climate change. We must boldly intervene now to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change and save our planet and our collective future.
Yes, there are three congressional committees I would fight to serve on at various points in my tenure: Energy and Commerce, Natural Resources, and Appropriations. The Energy and Commerce Committee is one of the most powerful, and has among the broadest jurisdictions - from healthcare policy to environmental protection, renewable energy, water infrastructure, and motor vehicle safety. The Natural Resources Committee has jurisdiction over Indigenous affairs, national parks and monuments, and conservation and species protection programs. Last and certainly not least is the Appropriations Committee, which has the power of the purse and establishing the annual discretionary federal budget in coordination with the Senate Appropriations Committee.
I do, but I also strongly believe in term limits and public financing of campaigns. Term limits ensure a natural change in political leadership, which help elevate fresh ideas, policy goals, and perspectives on government. It also imposes a check on amassing political power for the sake of retaining office, and puts members on the clock to push for the policies they believe in as opposed to focusing primarily on willing re-election. Further, public financing of campaigns is critical for gutting the inherently corrupting power of corporate money on our political systems. Money is not speech, period. We must overturn Citizens’ United because it opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending on political campaigns, and effectively turned our election system into an auction. Similarly, we must end Super PACs which are allowed to raise unlimited sums of money from undisclosed recipients and are devoid of basic accountability measures.
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
|
Candidate U.S. House California District 32 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 27, 2021
Senators
Alex Padilla (D)
Adam Schiff (D)
Representatives
District 1
Doug LaMalfa (R)
District 2
Jared Huffman (D)
District 3
Kevin Kiley (R)
District 4
Mike Thompson (D)
District 5
Tom McClintock (R)
District 6
Ami Bera (D)
District 7
Doris Matsui (D)
District 8
John Garamendi (D)
District 9
Josh Harder (D)
District 10
Mark DeSaulnier (D)
District 11
Nancy Pelosi (D)
District 12
Lateefah Simon (D)
District 13
Adam Gray (D)
District 14
Eric Swalwell (D)
District 15
Kevin Mullin (D)
District 16
Sam Liccardo (D)
District 17
Ro Khanna (D)
District 18
Zoe Lofgren (D)
District 19
Jimmy Panetta (D)
District 20
Vince Fong (R)
District 21
Jim Costa (D)
District 22
David Valadao (R)
District 23
Jay Obernolte (R)
District 24
Salud Carbajal (D)
District 25
Raul Ruiz (D)
District 26
Julia Brownley (D)
District 27
District 28
Judy Chu (D)
District 29
Luz Rivas (D)
District 30
Laura Friedman (D)
District 31
Gil Cisneros (D)
District 32
Brad Sherman (D)
District 33
Pete Aguilar (D)
District 34
Jimmy Gomez (D)
District 35
Norma Torres (D)
District 36
Ted Lieu (D)
District 37
District 38
Linda Sánchez (D)
District 39
Mark Takano (D)
District 40
Young Kim (R)
District 41
Ken Calvert (R)
District 42
Robert Garcia (D)
District 43
Maxine Waters (D)
District 44
Nanette Barragán (D)
District 45
Derek Tran (D)
District 46
Lou Correa (D)
District 47
Dave Min (D)
District 48
Darrell Issa (R)
District 49
Mike Levin (D)
District 50
Scott Peters (D)
District 51
Sara Jacobs (D)
District 52
Juan Vargas (D)
Democratic Party (45)
Republican Party (9)
