In the upcoming Ohio Senate elections scheduled for November 5th, an Albanian-American will run for the first time. Besa Sharrah, campaigning under the Republican Party banner, aims to become a member of the state legislature in the state where she arrived as an immigrant in 2005.
In an interview with Voice of America, she said that her family, persecuted by communism, instilled in her the ambition to fight for the protection of democracy. Thus, she became politically active at a very young age, and for the past 11 years, she has been engaged in Republican structures, until she received the party’s support to run for the Senate.
In conversation with the VOA journalist, she discusses her campaign goals and the reasons that motivated her to get involved in movements related to the Albanian diaspora, such as the movement to secure voting rights for immigrants.
Besa Sharrah began her journey in the United States about 20 years ago. “I came here to study when I was 17 years old. I came to study at ‘Wright State’, in Ohio, for mechanical engineering. There I graduated and became an engineer, started my career, and practiced for 7 years, until I took a leadership position where I led teams of engineers. I’ve also had a career in the IT sector for banks, working with two companies, JP Morgan and Nationwide Insurance,” she shares.
Her desire to get involved in politics, she says, is no coincidence, as she grew up with the urge to act in defense of democracy. The roots of this come from her family’s sufferings before the establishment of democratic order in Albania.
“I come from a very persecuted family in Albania. I come from the Sharrah family. We were a family that supported democracy at all costs. We supported individual rights, and this was something that was in contradiction with the dictatorial system, and for this, they executed 7 members of my family, all educated abroad, with a democratic vision for the country, to bring the Western perspective to Albania as well,” she expresses.
Initially, she became involved in political activities at the local level, in the city of Columbus where she lived, but always aimed to be part of various campaigns that happened more broadly throughout the state of Ohio. For 11 years, she has been part of the Republican Party structures, in whose name she will run for the Ohio Senate.
“I am the first Albanian here in Ohio, who will become, God willing, part of the Ohio legislature, here in America. The President of the Ohio Senate felt that I would be a very good candidate for this part of the electorate, also because I am an immigrant, I am what we call a new American.”
Asked whether it is easier or harder to campaign as an immigrant, she says, “We are in a very unique moment. If you had asked me, for example, 10 years ago, to be part of the Republican Party as an immigrant, it was not something that was normal. In fact, they would say, what are you doing there because they do not like immigrants, and so on. And in fact, I felt a completely different truth. That desire of Republicans, especially to have immigrants in their ranks, who are not only educated but also have the unique backgrounds that we do, like the Albanian system that was a dictatorship,” continues Sharrah. According to her, this has served as a great way for those in position to understand that there need to be candidates who remind why America is the land of dreams, why America is the promised land for many immigrants. “This has reflected on me as a candidate who comes from a dictatorship country and from a family that was heavily persecuted by the dictatorship. I have a different perspective to tell people that dictatorship and democracy are not so far from each other; therefore, we must protect our rights by whatever means we have and stay vigilant over our democracy,” she emphasizes.
Mrs. Sharrah believes that the party’s decision to nominate her is also linked to her career in the private sector. She notes that the electorate in Ohio’s 16th district, where she aims to secure votes, faces the same challenges that many Americans are dealing with nationwide today, such as high inflation or education.
“We are facing unprecedented inflation, at least for as long as I have lived here. We have also seen a rise in house prices that has made it even harder for citizens to have a clear and calm economy for how they will live. Also, education and schools continue to be a big part of my advocacy.”
While continuing her political activities in the United States, Mrs. Sharrah has been active in issues affecting the Albanian diaspora, such as the right of immigrants to vote.
“The constitution of a country must be implemented in its entirety. The right to vote for the diaspora is a right that is guaranteed in the Constitution. And at this moment, we do not have this right. I am an Albanian-American, and my desire is that these connections continue with Albania, especially in these delicate moments for Albanian democracy. As long as the vote of the diaspora is not implemented, I think that the Albanian state is in complete contradiction with the Albanian Constitution, and for this reason, I support the vote of the diaspora,” she stresses.
Asked what winning these elections would mean, she says it would be the fulfillment of a long-held dream. “It would be the realization of a very, very long dream. This is a dream, it is a dream that I feel and think about every day. First and foremost, it would mean that finally, a citizen from another country, who came here, not born here, will have the opportunity not only to observe from the sides the making of laws in her state but now to be part of making laws by bringing a different perspective, by bringing a different narrative. This is also related to the fact that we are in a very unique moment in the American state. The American state is a state of immigrants. I believe it is more than right to have people, who like me love this country, want to see it continue on the right path, and preserve that American dream for which we all came here.”
