It’s 2023, and just in case you thought it was an “off year” for elections, there are off-year elections! This year, Virginia is having its state and local elections. Today we are kicking off our 2023 progressive candidate profiles with Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, who is the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Arlington County and the City of Falls Church in Virginia. Parisa is the first Iranian-American Chief Prosecutor in United States history. Elected in 2019, Parisa ran on a platform of making the criminal justice system fairer to marginalized communities by no longer asking for cash bail, ending prosecution of marijuana possession, addressing racial disparities, not charging minors as adults, creating an independent body to review use of force by police, restoring voting rights to the formerly convicted, and creating a restorative justice process. In her first term in office, she has done all of that.
Read MoreRuth Bader Ginsburg dedicated her life to the pursuit of justice. She was a trailblazer who fought vigorously for gender equality as a lawyer. RBG not only changed the law, but she also altered the fabric of society. And during her 27 years on the Court, she became an unlikely pop-culture icon, influencing an Oscar-nominated documentary film, and even her own action figure. Sadly the beloved hero passed on Friday from pancreatic cancer. She was 87 years old.
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