First Generation Perspective
The podcast version of The Top California Priorities for a Senator representing California is available.
Jon Elist is the son of immigrant parents forced to leave Iran in the late 1970s. Although Jon was born and raised in Los Angeles, his family was subject to the bureaucracy and challenges of reestablishing a home and career in a new country. Jon attended graduated from Harvard and an MBA from Stanford, then pursued a career in healthcare, working within the Small Business Administration (SBA) and with the U.S. Embassy in Argentina. Several years later, he was recruited as the CEO of a healthcare company and grew the company to be a supplier to major healthcare organizations. Jon reviews his common sense approach to the top five issues in California and his reasons for running for the U.S. Senate to represent California.
The seven priorities addressed in this interview are:
- Inflation
- Education
- Homelessness
- immigration
- National Security
- One Party Rule
- His issue with Alex Padilla
More information on Jon Elist’s policies is available at ElistForSenate.com
Senate Ballot Confusion
Due to a quirk in the Senate term vacated by Kamala Harris, her term expires on November 3, 2022. The new six-year Senate term will start on Jan 3, 2023. But the approximately 61 days require a separate election in addition to the full six-year term.
As a California voter, in the section for the United States Senator Full Term, you will first see the 23 candidates certified to run for this Full Term position (six years).
On the next page, you will see a column of 8 candidates under the heading United States Senator, Partial/Unexpired Term. When Kamala Harris became Vice President, Governor Newsom appointed Alex Padilla to complete the current term originally held by Kamala Harris. That term ends on Nov 3, 2022. This part of the ballot is for electing the person who will be U.S. Senator from November 2, 2022, to Jan 3, 2023.
