Reza Safarnejad

Reza Safarnejad earned a high school diploma from Gaithersburg High School. Safarnejad earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland. His career experience includes working as a small business owner.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Reza Safarnejad is a working-class family man. He lives in the same communities as the rest of us, has a mortgage, raises children, and faces the same everyday challenges as ordinary people. That lived experience matters. It gives him a real understanding of our problems, rather than relying on second-hand knowledge.

For the past 20 years, Reza has led major government programs at the national, state, and local levels, overseeing large-scale critical projects that demand integrity, accountability, and results.

Our problems are not overly complex, and neither are the solutions. They have become crises because of years of inaction from incompetent and corrupt politicians who serve wealthy donors instead of the public. Those donors profit from the very problems politicians refuse to solve.

Most people already understand both the problems and the solutions. What has been missing is the political will and integrity to do what is necessary, rather than what benefits corrupt donors.

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?

The problems of the cost of living, housing, and homelessness are all tied to the same root cause: manipulated and monopolized markets in nearly everything we buy, consume, or need to live. The only long-term solution is to break up monopolies across industries — including housing, healthcare, insurance, and food — and properly regulate market manipulation by giant corporations. No gimmick or short-term band-aid solution will solve these problems.The problems of public safety and social justice go hand in hand. One cannot succeed without the other. Neither will be effective, however, unless we also address the larger issues driving both: the unchecked flow of prescription and illicit drugs, the need for effective policing, and California’s frivolous lawyering industry, which continues to worsen many of these problems.No problem will be solved as long as we have a corrupt political system that encourages corruption at every level, empowers parasitical interests, and makes effective governing nearly impossible. The governor’s office plays an outsized role in this system because it concentrates decision-making in a single executive position, unlike the legislative and judicial branches, which operate through broader, group-based processes.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Everything from cost of living, housing, homelessness, public safety, justice, environmental problems, human rights are all critical. Being a governor is a job and the job is care about and take of everyone in California. It should not be about what the candidate cares about or wants.