Ruwa Romman (born circa 1993) is a
Palestinian–American politician.
In 2022, she became the first
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
woman to be elected to the
Georgia State House of Representatives
The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. T ...
.
Romman was born in
Jordan and moved to the United States when she was 7.
Romman attended
Oglethorpe University and
Georgetown University’s
McCourt School of Public Policy.
She graduated from McCourt with a Master's degree in Public Policy in 2019.
After graduation, she worked for
Deloitte as a senior consultant.
Romman has been involved in local politics and civic engagement groups since 2014.
In 2020, Romman co-founded the Georgia Volunteer Hub, which trained thousands of volunteers to support the
Georgia Senate Runoff election.
In January 2022, she announced her candidacy to become the Georgia House of Representative for District 97.
On May 24, 2022, Romman won the Democratic primary against Democrat JT Wu for Georgia House District 97.
On November 8, 2022, Romman won the general election for Georgia House District 97 against Republican John Chan, making her the first Muslim woman to be elected into the
Georgia State House of Representatives
The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. T ...
.
During her 2022 campaign, Romman was endorsed by
NARAL,
Fair Fight,
the Georgia Working Families Party,
and the Asian-American Advocacy Fund.
Romman campaigned on expanding health care access, protecting voting rights, supporting access to abortion and helping working families.
On November 22, 2022, Romman was interviewed by Journalist Peter Biello for
Georgia Public Boadcasting. In December 2022, Romman was interviewed by
Geoff Bennett
Geoff Bennett (11 September 1926 – 2 September 2002) was an Australian field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must ...
for a
PBS NewsHour segment titled "How Muslim American candidates made history in the midterms"
Since November 2022, Romman is part of Georgia's first formal "Legislative Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus."
References
External links
Ballotpedia Profile
American people of Palestinian descent
Oglethorpe University alumni
McCourt School of Public Policy alumni
Georgia (U.S. state) Democrats
Deloitte people
Jordanian emigrants to the United States
Muslim politicians
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians
Women in Georgia (U.S. state) politics
Candidates in the 2022 United States elections
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
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