I am a son of two amazing people who sacrificed everything to give me a shot at the American Dream.
I am a husband of an incredible woman who supports me and guides me.
I am father of three adorable children who inspire me to fight for fairness and justice each and everyday.
I am one of the top rated attorneys in America. I have fought to protect the rights of Nevadan's against greedy corporations for the past 16 years.
I was born in Amman, Jordan in 1976 to a successful attorney and a school teacher. We lived a good life in a great neighborhood next to other Muslims and Christians who I played with, loved, and admired. I had an amazing childhood.
From a very young age, my father would sit me on his lap and tell me of this great country called America where people are treated equally, where justice prevails, and where everyone can succeed if they work. From the age of 6, I became fascinated with and in love with America.
At the age of 11, my father sacrificed his successful law practice and my mother left her job as a teacher to give me and my siblings a better life. A better life that could be found in America, the country that I had never seen but loved as long as I could remember.
In the winter of 1988, shortly before my 12th birthday, we flew from Amman, Jordan to JFK. It was a cold and windy night. As we stepped outside the airport to catch a cab from JFK to Newark to fly to Virginia, I felt that I have come home. Home to the country of the good people that my father always told me about.
Upon stepping foot in America as an 11 year old boy, I made a promise to myself that I would not waste my parents' sacrifices to give me a better life and a commitment to do good for America one day.
Upon arriving in Chesapeake, Virginia, a beautiful town where my uncle worked as a pharmacist and lived for over a decade, I began to experience the goodness and kindness of the American people that my father always told me about.
I was a curious kid who did not speak English and roamed the halls of Western Branch Elementary School carrying a dictionary to communicate with others. It was not easy sitting in English and History class and not understanding what was being taught. That's when young kids in the class would take time out of their busy lives to teach and tutor the kid from Jordan. God, I appreciated them.
I would invariably look up words in the dictionary and study long hours for tests because I did not want to be pushed back a grade due to my inability to speak the language. As time went on, I learned English and began to excel in school.
At the age of 12, we ran out of money and my father was unable to find a job because he was not fluent in English. As a result, I rode my bike to different shopping centers asking business owners to give me a job to help my family.
After numerous and frustrating tries at finding a job at the age of 12 failed, I stumbled upon an Italian restaurant in Portsmouth, Virginia. There, I was greeted by Mrs. Didio, an elderly woman who I would later love as my own grandmother. I told her of my situation and she gave me a job washing dishes after school at her restaurant.
I must have washed hundreds of thousands of dishes, pots, and pans during the several years I worked at Mrs. Didio's restaurant. It was so tiring to wash dishes all night and having to study very late into the night to be ready for school the next day. It was hurtful to work each and every Friday night while my classmates enjoyed football games and school dances.
Despite the tiredness and sadness, I was immensely proud to have a job to help keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. I continued to push on while being grateful to be a part of America and amazed at profound sacrifices my parents made to allow me to be a part of this great nation. On many occasions, while washing dishes at the Italian restaurant, I would dream about what life could be like in the future and how I could uphold my commitment to the country that adapted me.
We often travelled to Washington D.C to visit an uncle. I was always in awe. I knew that one day I will give back to America by being a representative and a voice for the people.
Despite all the difficulties and obstacles, I ended up earning a scholarship to the University of Miami in Florida. There, I worked as a waiter to continue to help my parents and to support myself. I graduated with honors majoring in Political Science and economics.
After graduating from college, I left for San Diego to attend law school. After my father had a stroke during my first semester of law school, I brought my parents from Virginia to come live me in San Diego to take care of them. I took a job at the mall selling clothes and later as a law clerk to earn money to support my parents. Despite all the difficulties associated with law school, working full time, and caring for my parents, I graduated law school near the top of my class.
After law school, I was given the honor to clerk for Vice-Chief Justice Cliff Young at the Nevada Supreme Court. Although I had an opportunity to work for higher pay, I chose to serve the people of Nevada by working at the state's highest court.
In the summer of 2001, I married the love of my life, Dr. Sameera Sbaih. We have three amazing children who light up my heart and motivate me to keep working hard everyday. I still have the honor and pleasure of taking care of my parents who have now become elderly and ill.
For the past 16 years, I have become one of the most successful attorneys in Nevada fighting on behalf of consumers and working families against vicious and greedy corporations. In early 2017, I was proud to be selected as one of the top lawyers in America.
My success as an attorney and my wife's success as a physician has allowed us to prosper beyond my expectation. I have earned the American Dream.
After many years of nonstop hard work, I can now rest and enjoy the fruits of my hard work and success. However, rest is not in my vocabulary and my commitment to America still burns inside me. Indeed, life is not just about me and my family, it's about us collectively as one people.
In 2016, I ran for US Congress in Nevada's 3rd Congressional District. I did not run for the title of Congressman, to have the power of a Congressman, and/or the pay that the job provides. I ran out of sense of duty and responsibility to help those less fortunate achieve the American Dream that I was able to earn.
Running for Congress in 2016 was everything that I didn't expect. It did not matter how qualified I was or how much I wanted to help my fellow citizens. I was shocked and dismayed that our political system is corrupt and is motivated by big money, not helping people who are suffering each and everyday. I learned that US politics is a game and the only losers are people who are manipulated to vote for those who don't truly care about them. I was told that an American Muslim can't win and that I should accept a commissioner position to leave the race.
If life was about me, I would have listened and became a puppet for the elite and the power brokers. However, I did not listen because running for Congress was not about me increasing my social status or padding my bank account. My sole motivation for wanting to become a congressman was to fight for those that can't fight for themselves and to speak for those unable to speak for themselves. I battled and worked hard to win for those folks. Sadly, the big money and the party elites beat me. However, they did not defeat me and they did not dampen my commitment to help the people of Nevada and America. To the contrary, my loss in the congressional primary further fueled my passion to change the way politics is done in America and to bring the power back to the people where it rightly belongs.
Then came the election of Trump in November 2016, a grim day in American history. Trump represents everything that I am against. I could not stand his racism, bigotry, misogyny, and overall fraudulent personality.
For the past several months, my children, who watch television and comprehend Trump's hateful rhetoric, would ask me "if America is going to be OK." I invariably replied "yes." However, I don't believe America is going to be OK unless we unite for the common good.
Therefore, as an adopted son of this great nation who believes in America, in its people, and its values, I decided to run for the United States Senate in order to fight for a progressive American Dream and to defend our core American values that have been attacked and eroded by Trump.
In doing so, we will start to a movement where we resist Trump's radical agenda and insist on basic human rights for all Nevadans and Americans. Our movement will insist on, among other things, the following:
-Medicare for All because healthcare is a basic human right that our country should provide to all citizens;
-An economy that works for everyone, not the top 1% who already control more wealth than the bottom 99% of our population;
-Good paying green and construction jobs to fix our aging infrastructure;
-A living wage of $15.00/hr. to allow people to live in dignity;
-Tuition free public colleges and universities education to allow our children to have a better future regardless of how much money their parents make;
-Immigration reform that provides for a pathway to citizenship for 11 million of our friends and neighbors;
-Equal pay for equal work for our mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters;
-Comprehensive campaign finance reform where corporate and "dark" money is precluded from poisoning our political system and from buying our elected officials;
-Comprehensive criminal justice reform where private prisons will no longer exist and drug users are treated as patients, not criminals;
-That BlackLives matter;
-That we should stop destroying our environment with our own hands for the sake of profits;
-That members of our LGBTQ community should be treated equally in every aspect of society, bar none;
-That we are not a white America, not a black America, not a brown America, but we are the United States of America where we are all equal regardless of race, sex, and/or religion.
This is the America that I dream of and the America I imagined while siting on my father's lap as a 6 year old boy. As a United Senator, I will bring to Capitol Hill the honesty, integrity, and intellect that the people of Nevada deserve.
Whether an American Muslim immigrant like me will have a fair and transparent primary and/or whether I will win the election to have the privilege to serve the amazing people of Nevada is to be determined. However, I feel that I have already won by running for office, by having a platform than enables me to speak the truth on behalf of millions of Americans who are sick and tired of the status quo, and by trying to fulfill the commitment I made long ago to this great country called America.
Jesse Sbaih
Democratic Candidate for US Senate in Nevada
Edit: For folks in the comment section who asked for a link to more information on the campaign here it is; http://jessefornevada.com. Thank you for the interest it means a lot.
