Rob Sobhani

Sobhani ran as an Independent candidate for the United States Senate in Maryland in 2012 against Republican nominee Daniel Bongino, Libertarian Dean Ahmad, and Democratic incumbent Ben Cardin. He received 16.4 percent of the vote, beating the state's all-time mark for an independent or third-party candidate. Senator Cardin was re-elected with 56% of the vote, with the Republican candidate capturing 26.3% of the total.

In 2012, Sobhani, with the National Oil and Gas Authority, Petra Solar, and the Bahrain Petroleum Company, made an agreement to bring American-made "smart" solar technology to the township of Awali, the University of Bahrain, and other locations in Bahrain. "Smart solar is an innovative approach that couples solar with smart grid technology and is deployed in partnership with utility companies to generate clean, safe renewable energy while making the electric infrastructure more stable, efficient and energy-independent. This approach builds large-scale solar in a reliable fashion that avoids future costs of rebuilding the grid."

Prior to 2012, Sobhani made two runs for the United States Senate in Maryland as a Republican, losing both times in the primary: first in 1992 when he lost to Alan L. Keyes, and again in 2000 when he lost to Paul Rappaport.

In 2012, as an independent, Sobhani primarily ran on a platform of jobs and education. He pledged to accomplish these five goals:

In 1990, the then-Soviet Union state Azerbaijan was negotiating with BP for its offshore oil exploration. Sobhani, an Azeri-speaking American, was sought out by Communist Party leader Ayaz Mutalibov, who decided to allow Amoco a chance to get the deal. In 1991, after Sobhani's talks with Mutalibov, Amoco was granted exclusive rights to the Azeri oil field for one year. Eventually, several companies took a share of the offshore exploration after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Born in Kansas, as a child Sobhani lived in Iran, his family's ancestral home. After 1979, his parents left Iran due to the Islamic Revolution and immigrated to the United States, where Sobhani had already begun his higher education. He earned first his bachelors and later his Ph.D. in Political Economy at Georgetown University, where he later served as an adjunct professor in political economy. Sobhani is an usher at the St. Francis Episcopal Church in Potomac, is married and has two children, and has lived with them in Montgomery County for the last 33 years.

Sohrab Sobhani (born February 14, 1960) is an American author and lecturer on energy issues, U.S. immigration policies and U.S. policy toward the Middle East.

Formerly a professor at Georgetown University, Sobhani is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive of Caspian Group, a company that specializes in working with companies that have business interests in the United States, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union. He is the founder and CEO of Sparo Corporation. Sobhani serves on the Board of Z Advanced Computing (ZAC). Sobhani has published one book on immigration: Press 2 for English: Fix Immigration, Save America, and two books on foreign affairs: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia: A Leader of Consequence and The Pragmatic Entente: Israeli-Iranian Relations, 1948-1988.