Ruwa Romman (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: رواء رمان, born June 14, 1993) is an American politician serving as a member of the

Georgia 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 (U.S. state), Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republican Party (United States), Repu ...

for the 97th district. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, she is the first

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

and

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

woman elected to the body.

Early life and education

Romman was born in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

to a Palestinian family and moved to the United States when she was 7. Romman attended

Oglethorpe University Oglethorpe University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brookhaven, Georgia, United States. It was chartered in 1835 and named in honor of General James Edward Oglethorpe, founder ...

and

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

’s

McCourt School of Public Policy Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy is located in Washington, D.C. The McCourt School offers one undergraduate degree, five master's degree programs, nine dual degrees, global learning opportunities in a range of destinations ...

. She graduated from McCourt with a master's degree in public policy in 2019.

Career

After graduation, Romman worked for

Deloitte Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...

as a senior consultant. She has been involved in local politics and civic engagement groups since 2014 and co-founded the Georgia Volunteer Hub in 2020, which trained thousands of volunteers to support the Georgia Senate runoff election. In January 2022, she announced her candidacy for the Georgia House of Representative in District 97. On May 24, 2022, Romman won the Democratic primary against JT Wu. On November 8, 2022, Romman won the general election, 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. ...

. During her 2022 campaign, Romman was endorsed by

NARAL Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America and commonly known as simply NARAL ( ), is a non-profit 501(c)(4) organization in the United States that engages in lobbying, political action, and advocacy efforts to oppose rest ...

, 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 Broadcasting Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) is a state network of PBS member television stations and NPR member radio stations serving the U.S. state of Georgia. It is operated by the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, an agency of the ...

. In December 2022, Romman was interviewed by Geoff Bennett for a

PBS NewsHour ''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stat ...

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." In August 2024, Romman was one of three Palestinian-American names put forward by the

Uncommitted National Movement The Uncommitted National Movement is a protest campaign aimed mainly to pressure the United States government to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza war and impose an arms embargo on Israel. The group received some support in the 2024 Democratic Part ...

to speak at the

2024 Democratic National Convention The 2024 Democratic National Convention was a United States presidential nominating convention, presidential nominating convention in which delegates of the Democratic Party (United States), United States Democratic Party voted on their party ...

. Upon refusal, the Uncommitted delegates staged a

sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...

protest outside the doors of

United Center The United Center is an indoor arena on the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is home to the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

and inside the security perimeter and stayed overnight before the last day of the convention. None of the names put forward were allowed to speak. On November 5, 2024, Romman won re-election in Georgia State House of Representatives for House District 97.

References

External links

Georgia legislature profile

Campaign website

Ballotpedia profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romman, Ruwa 1993 births Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives Women state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) American politicians of Palestinian descent 21st-century American women politicians Oglethorpe University alumni McCourt School of Public Policy alumni Deloitte people Jordanian emigrants to the United States Living people American Muslims 21st-century members of the Georgia General Assembly