Ruwa Romman, a public policy expert and organizer, became the first Muslim woman elected to Georgia’s House of Representatives. Incidentally, she also became the first Palestinian ever elected to any public office in the state. 

She defeated Republican John Chan in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 97 on Tuesday, November 8.

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After her win, Romman excitedly took to Twitter to write, “Good morning! My name is Ruwa Romman, and I’ve just been elected to become Georgia’s first Muslim woman in the state house and first Palestinian ever elected to any public office in the state.”

Who is Ruwa Romman?

Ruwa Romman was born in Amman. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Oglethorpe University in 2015 and a graduate degree from Georgetown University in 2019. Her career experience includes working as a senior consultant for a professional services management company.

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At the age of 29, she spent years working with local governments to solve the Peach State’s problems. In an exclusive interview with Hollywood Life, in the days leading up to Election Day, Romman addressed some of the issues plaguing her state, including draconian voting restrictions and a near-blanket ban on abortion. 

“Think about all those laws that made you really, really angry,” Romman said. “All of that started in a state legislature somewhere.”

Her house district is located in western Gwinnett County, northeast of Atlanta. Romman said that her community is a “perfect” reflection of the nation’s diversity. “Anything and everything you’ve heard of, we’ve seen it in our district,” she said.

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“[We’re] a perfect microcosm of what we’re seeing around the country,” she explained. “It’s racially diverse, socio-economically diverse. We will knock on doors at homes with values in the seven figures, and then on apartments where the stairs are literally falling apart, but voters face a lot of the same issues.”

Romman is a self-professed Taylor Swift fan whose religious faith has influenced her stance on abortion. This is because, like Judaism, Islam does not believe that life begins at conception. She has compared pro-life beliefs to “cutting down the tree to save a branch.”