Shireen Ghorbani

Shireen Ghorbani is an American politician from Utah, born on June 7, 1981. She served as an at-large member of the Salt Lake County Council, representing 1.1 million residents, after being selected to fill a vacancy created when Jenny Wilson became Salt Lake County Mayor. However, she lost her seat in the 2020 election to Republican Laurie Stringham by 1,196 votes. Ghorbani also ran unsuccessfully for Utah's 2nd congressional district in 2018 against Chris Stewart.

Ghorbani was born and raised in North Dakota by a single mother, with her father hailing from Iran. She earned an undergraduate degree from St. Cloud University in Minnesota and a master's degree from the University of Nebraska. In 2009, she moved to Utah to pursue a second graduate degree at the University of Utah, where she worked as a communications professional before entering politics.

In her 2018 congressional campaign, Ghorbani focused on affordable healthcare, motivated by her mother's death from pancreatic cancer shortly after diagnosis. She opposed the Trump tax cuts and advocated for bipartisan cooperation and immigration reform. Her campaign received donations from over 2,200 individuals, rejecting corporate PAC contributions. Despite her efforts, she lost to Stewart with 105,051 votes compared to his 151,489.

After losing the congressional race, Ghorbani ran for Salt Lake County Mayor but was defeated by Jenny Wilson. She then won a seat on the Salt Lake County Council, where she introduced a successful resolution to transition unincorporated areas of Salt Lake County to 100% renewable energy by 2030.