By Shireen Ghorbani I recently met Linda, a woman who knows hard work. She was in construction for many years. Now her primary source of income is her Social Security and her husband's meager disability check. Linda told me that her monthly Social Security check is getting smaller, and she doesn't qualify for food assistance anymore, either. We stood in her front yard and talked about her struggles to find the cash to fix a very leaky roof. She feels forgotten, unseen, and she wants a government that works. This fall, you have an opportunity for vote for a candidate who is firmly standing on the side of working families in Utah. I grew up in a home where my mom knew how many times we could fill the gas tank to get into town. She worked full time, and we still couldn't afford health insurance. She knew where every dollar in her paycheck was going and she instilled in me a great sense of fiscal responsibility and the need to serve my community. I'm running for the United States House of Representatives because Utahns need a voice in Washington in touch with the day to day struggles facing working families --someone who will hold true to our values of family, honesty, integrity, and freedom. Over these last two years, your representative and this administration have not made you or your families the priority. My opponent supported a tax bill that, once it is fully phased in, will give over 80 percent of the benefits to the wealthiest 1 percent of American households. Carpenters, cops, teachers, and anyone making less than $100,000 a year will pay higher taxes than they would have under the old tax law. I do not think this gets our families ahead, and I would support tax reform that puts more money in the pockets of hard-working Americans by expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit ahead of handouts to the very wealthy. On top of that, the new tariffs and the ever-increasing trade war hurt you and me. We are the ones who lose in this war and we will pay more on everything from household appliances to the cost of lumber and steel. This isn't right. Our farmers, the backbone of our country, continue to struggle with the increase in cost of trading our Utah products like pork with China. With every tweet, this president jeopardizes the market stability our farmers rely on. I believe that the American farmer and worker are the heart of our nation and that we play a critical role in the global economy. Our farmers and our workers deserve better. In the past couple of years, have you really seen your quality of life improve? When's the last time you got a raise? With rising gas prices and increased cost of health-care premiums and prescriptions -- are you coming out on top? You should be. Linda told me she voted for President Trump. She liked how he talked about supporting working people. I understand that. I asked her if she was satisfied with what she's been seeing. She told me no, that this Congress won't address the cost of health care or take care of our seniors. I will prioritize working families. The well-being of everyday people is a greater priority for me over the billions in corporate welfare we've given out in the last two years. I asked Linda for her vote, and I earned her support. Please know that if you support me, I will always be voting for you in Washington. Shireen Ghorbani is the Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in Utah's 2nd District.

By Shireen Ghorbani I grew up a theater kid. My very first role in a musical was as a townsperson in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." I loved being a part of something that brought so many people together -- stage technicians, actors, dancers, an orchestra, costume designers and more, all working to create a special experience for the larger community. From an audience's perspective, what makes good or interesting theater? Star-crossed lovers, obstacles, struggles for power ... in short: conflict. Conflict makes for good drama. Our current political chatter is drenched in drama. But that addiction to drama and division does not reflect the kindness and compassion I've found personally speaking to thousands of people across Utah. We're being told, and seeing on social media, that our political rhetoric has become too heated and that we've never been more divided about more things than we are today. But here's what I know, at the doors, face to face -- people are kind. People are decent. The divisions between us might happen online and in spaces where we've lost touch with our neighbors and communities. But they don't show up as we speak to each other, civilly, at the doorsteps I've stood on across this district. There's much more agreement than we're led to believe by our elected officials or the stories we see in the news. Drama, division and fear sell. The very real and quiet fear of not being able to pay our medical bills or take care of an aging parent doesn't fit the narrative of division, so it doesn't make the headlines. What brings us together is also rarely going to be featured on the nightly news. Recently, I was out knocking on doors in Bountiful. A lifelong Republican opened his door, and we had a lovely and productive conversation about the burden of his prescription costs, his challenge to keep up with rising medical bills and his concern for our expanding federal deficit. I told him I shared those concerns. We spoke about my plans for controlling prescription drug costs, reducing administrative costs in health care and creating future tax bills that wouldn't prioritize profits over families. As I was leaving, he pointed across the street toward a neighboring house. He said, "I don't know if you've knocked on that door yet, but my neighbor just lost his wife a few days ago. I think he'd like to talk to you, but he's going to need some time." The two of us then watched as a neighbor up the street left her house, carrying a dish of food to the grieving man's door to deliver him a home-cooked meal. The greatness of this country is captured in that moment where a Democrat and Republican can converse on the issues that matter most and find common ground. Where our neighbors put the concerns of our fellow community members front and center in the way that we behave and in the way that we speak to each other. Where we come together in times of need, not fall back on rhetoric of how divided we all are. When honest questions get honest answers, every time. These are complicated times. Our families face really big concerns that we struggle with around our kitchen tables every night. I've heard about them at door after door. There's a lot we agree on. Here are some things I know are true: Integrity matters, and we deserve leaders who tell the truth. Fiscal responsibility and fairness are important. Working families are often struggling to make ends meet. Health care costs too much, and we get too little. We feel our representatives are out of touch with the issues we face every day. More than anything, we want honesty: honest answers to honest questions about the challenges we face. I know this country is great, and in the words of Teddy Roosevelt, "We cannot do great deeds unless we are willing to do the small things that make up the sum of greatness." I see small things that lead to greatness all over this district, from the kindness of neighbors to the responsibility of stewardship we feel toward our land, water and air, and I'm ready to work on great deeds.

By Shireen Ghorbani I spent two years serving in the United States Peace Corps in the Republic of Moldova. It was hard. Moldova is a beautiful, agrarian country of about 4 million people. It is the smallest country to break off from the former Soviet Union. I served with my husband from 2003 to 2005, and family and friends from home often asked me what I missed most. Peanut butter? Going to the movies? My family? Yes, I missed those things. And the thing I missed the very most was any semblance of a government that worked. Moldova was deeply, deeply corrupt. Every family knew that if they wanted their child to receive the highest marks at the end of the school year, it would cost $200. Even if you just wanted your child to pass on to the next grade, you would need to fork over at least $20. To work at the anti-corruption office, you needed to pay the secretary a $500 "application fee" to start the process, which went directly into her pocket. Every aspect of life was touched by the sometimes quiet, and often very public, exchange of a bribe. The result of widespread corruption is a rot that eats away at the core of democratic society. I think about the weakening force of corrupt schools, government, health care systems and banking industries and how it eroded the trust of Moldovans. It made life difficult and dangerous. It was hard to plan for the future when you could never really know the cost associated with any given interaction. I keep trying to reassure myself that we, here in the United States, have lived through more corrupt times than we are seeing now, though sometimes I am not so sure. Heading into the 1920 election, the Republican National Committee paid Warren Harding's mistress, Carrie Fulton Phillips, what amounts to $540,000 in today's dollars. But does that kind of buy off compare to today's sell out? We are living in the wake of a president who campaigned on the promise to drain the swamp, but the waves of swampy water continue to crash on the Department of the Interior, the EPA, the Department of Education and beyond. Disingenuous public comment periods, using positions of privilege to secure sweetheart deals for family members, and turning a blind eye to the predatory behavior of certain private colleges at the expense of defrauded students are now commonplace narratives in today's news cycle. Utahns need a member of Congress working on the side of Utahns, not corporate interests and not only for those who are able to write the biggest checks. As a candidate, I am not taking a single corporate dollar. If I have the honor to serve this district as your representative, I won't take corporate PAC dollars while serving in Congress, either. I'm very different from my opponent in this way. I will work to restore faith and trust in our government. That means transparency, reform and living by our convictions. I would publish call logs, noting how many calls I received for or against particular pieces of legislation. I would share visitor logs and let you know who I'm spending my time, your time, with in Washington. Here are three things I would be working for in Congress to address corruption and repair trust.I support term limits. We need more transparency and regulation on the revolving door between serving as a member of Congress and working as a lobbyist. There need to be caps on campaign spending, both by candidates and outside groups who drop millions into our elections. Should I have the honor of representing Utah's 2nd District, I would sign on to co-sponsor the Government by the People Act (H.R. 20) to to establish a program for small individual donations to campaigns for public office where voters are in the driver's seat. There are 778,000 registered unaffiliated and Democrat voters in this state who are often left voiceless in our federal representation. The truth is that many more of us, no matter what our party, are voiceless in the entire process from campaign to policy unless we are able to cut big checks. I'm ready to stand up to corruption. On Nov. 6, let's vote our values of honesty, integrity and moral leadership.