Palestinian American denied slot at DNC competing for Georgia governor: ‘We’re trying to rebuild the coalition’

Ruwa Romman, the first Palestinian-American elected to state-level office in Georgia, was fighting for a speaking slot a year ago at the Democratic national convention, hoping to draw attention to concerns among progressive voters about the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza.

On Monday, she announced her candidacy for governor in Georgia – looking for a different kind of attention.

“I’m running to build the movement,” she told the Guardian. “Because for over the 20 years Republicans have controlled our state, hospitals have shut down, the minimum wage on our books is still $5.15 an hour, and our education continues to drop. In order to fix all of those things, the first things, the first thing we need to do is replace who the governor is.”

Romman, a 32-year-old state representative, enters a crowded field of Democrats seeking the nomination. Lucy McBath, a Georgia congresswoman, who had widely been considered a frontrunner, withdrew from consideration last year, citing her husband’s health. Jason Esteves, a former state senator, Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor, Michael Thurmond, a former DeKalb county CEO, Derrick Jackson, a state representative, and Geoff Duncan, a former lieutenant governor and previously a Republican, are competing in the May primary.

She laughs at comparisons with Zohran Mamdami’s progressive run in the New York City mayoral race.

“I am not here to define any other candidate but myself, for the average everyday voters, as someone who cares about economic issues,” she said. “A typical voter, for me, is young and progressive, but I’m also going after the older voters that understandably are very cynical and very nihilistic right now, and think this is the way the world is, and it will always be.

Ruwa Romman speaks at a rally for Gaza outside the Democratic national convention in Chicago, Illinois, on 22 August 2024. Photograph: Caroline Brehman/EPA

“We are trying to rebuild the coalition. And to do that, we are building it so that we can bring those groups back that just don’t see anybody fighting for them, which inadvertently, by the way, ends up being everybody.”

Georgia has elected several Muslim men to the general assembly; Romman became the first Muslim woman in 2022, winning a seat in the Atlanta suburbs of Gwinnett county. She is religiously observant and wears a headscarf in public. Born in Jordan and raised in Georgia, Romman was an activist for years before entering politics, she said.

Romman became the face of the Uncommitted voter movement that grew out of discontent with the Biden administration’s seemingly unconditional support for Israel as images of dead children washed through America’s political consciousness last year. She lobbied to no avail for a speaking slot at the convention, so that the party would at least acknowledge the internal conflict.

Ultimately, Romman released a message endorsing Kamala Harris, while calling for the combatants to “reach a ceasefire, end the killing of Palestinians, free all the Israeli and Palestinian hostages and to begin the difficult work of building a path to collective peace and safety”.

Romman acknowledges that most people watching politics probably recognize her from that effort. “But the reality is that I have been doing this work in Georgia for over a decade,” she said. “And while I understand how that plays into all of this … I hope that the same people who paid attention to that nationally and locally will now pay attention to our state and everything that is possible here.”

Republicans have held the governor’s seat since 2003 in Georgia with a string of conservatives who have generally eschewed deep ideological partisanship in favor of business-friendly governance, as typified by governor Brian Kemp’s response to political provocations by Donald Trump.

Nonetheless, Georgia remains one of 10 states opting against Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. A brain-dead Georgia woman was kept alive earlier this year to prevent the death of her fetus, a medical decision driven by Georgia’s “fetal heartbeat” anti-abortion law. And pro-growth policies have also led to changes to insurance law, housing affordability and employment law that Democrats believe provides a political opening.

Romman said she hopes her candidacy will inspire others to run, particularly in districts where Democrats have struggled in the past, and for people to engage their government and pressure conservatives to consider better options.

“Nothing that we are pursuing is unpopular,” she said. “The bills are going up on everything: food, your electric bill, your tax bill on your home, if you’re lucky enough to own a home. If you’re trying to buy a home, you’re getting priced out by corporations. The cultural change that I hope people see is in overcoming cynicism and restoring this civic ethos of being involved in government, and seeing government as a place for everybody, not just special interests.”