Denied the Democratic convention stage, Ruwa Romman focuses on what’s next

Despite her strong ideals, Romman insists a career in politics was “never part of the plan”.

Toward the end of 2021, the Georgia Muslim Voter Project asked Romman to join a Zoom call for people interested in running for office. Romman agreed to join and give advice.

But then she struck up a fateful conversation with a reporter on the call from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC). That conversation turned into a story with the opening lines, “Ruwa Romman is entertaining the idea of running for office.”

There was only one problem: She wasn’t.

But the prospect of her running for office set her local community ablaze with excitement. Calls started pouring in, and 15 days later, she announced her bid as a Democrat for Georgia’s House of Representatives.

Britney Whaley is the southeast regional director for the Working Families Party, a progressive political party that sometimes endorses Democrats. Her organisation was among those who endorsed Romman, largely in response to her advocacy work.

“She came to us with a reputation,” Whaley told Al Jazeera. “Anytime you see people who have done work in the ecosystem, you know members are going to be excited. You know it’s going to be someone who represents working-class communities.”

In 2022, Romman was ultimately elected to the state House by less than three thousand votes. She represents House District 97, an area with around 60,000 residents northeast of Atlanta.

The social media platform TikTok has been central to her voter outreach efforts. She has more than 21,000 followers on TikTok, and many of her videos have thousands of views.

Often, she uses her platform to denounce what she sees as creeping cynicism among voters.

As she canvassed in her district in early August, ahead of her reelection bid this November, she told Al Jazeera she noticed a sense of disenfranchisement.

“One thing we heard is how there’s no point in voting. Nothing’s going to change and both sides are the same,” Romman said. “It’s the same thing you hear online, but it does have real-world impact.”

Her reaction? “I might as well get online and address some of these things, so that way we can actually do what we need to do in real life.”

Her advocacy to end the war in Gaza is only part of her overall platform. Most voters, she said, want to talk about education, healthcare and reproductive rights. (“At least, what little of them we have in Georgia,” she quipped.)

But her stance on the Gaza war has been increasingly part of her national profile. In her videos, she is vocal that the US should end its “blank-cheque” support for Israel, a close ally in the Middle East.

She also takes on critics who argue Democrats like President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris should be excused for their pro-Israel stance on the merits of their domestic policy. Harris is set to take on Trump in November’s presidential election.

“Do you hear yourself?” Romman asked one commenter in a video. “You are literally saying, ‘Yes, both presidential candidates will kill the people that you love, but on the bright side, one of them is not gonna do it here.’”

“The only appropriate position is that we need to keep pressuring the president to end this genocide that we are enabling. Period. End of story.”