Ruwa Romman says Mamdani’s victory could ‘change the calculus’ around Democratic support for Israel

In August 2024, Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman gained international attention when organizers of the Democratic National Convention refused to allow her to speak, rejecting demands from activists and prominent elected officials – including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani – that a Palestinian American be allowed to address the convention.

Romman, a 32-year-old progressive backed by the Georgia Working Families Party, was elected in 2022 to represent the northern suburbs of Atlanta, becoming the first Palestinian American and first Muslim woman to serve in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Ten months after being denied a speaking role at the DNC, Romman was in New York City, canvassing for mayoral candidate Mamdani, who would be the first Muslim mayor in the city’s history. During the campaign, Mamdani’s critics accused him of antisemitism due to his outspoken support for Palestine and criticism of Israel – but the attacks didn’t prevent him from defeating former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to become the Democratic nominee for mayor. 

On Tuesday night, Romman was at Mamdani’s election night party in Long Island City to witness his shocking upset victory, and City & State spoke with her about why she canvassed for Mamdani, what his success means for other Muslim officials and whether she thinks a Palestinian will be allowed to speak at the 2028 DNC. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why did you decide to canvass for Mamdani?

Because when me and Zohran got connected a few years back, I realized this was somebody whose first instinct was to do the right thing. It's really hard to find people like that in politics. Then when we had met late last year, he had mentioned that he was thinking about running for mayor, and I said to him, “I don’t want another messaging-focused campaign on the left. If you're going to run, I actually want you to win, and I want you to focus on governing. That’s the only way that we should be doing this.” And so here we are! I told him, “If you want, I’ll be there the last week and do the phonebanking, do anything you want virtually.” And so that’s what I did.

Why do you think he reached out to you?

It’s a lot around Palestine work, to be honest. I’m the only elected Palestinian (state lawmaker) in Georgia. There’s not a lot of elected Muslims around the country anyway, and so we all kind of try to find each other.

What did you think of the role that the issue of Palestine and Israel played in the campaign?

It was beyond dehumanizing, and I think it’s also really important to realize that it was very inflammatory as well. And that is the problem. The way that these attacks were built was so dangerous because it put Zohran’s life at risk, but it also put a lot of us at risk who are visible, who are public. There are those of us who may not necessarily get the same attention as Zohran, but we are recognized in public places. So for the first time in a long time, I was just constantly looking over my shoulder – and that's a feeling that I worked really hard to get rid of. But now certain people in my community are starting to feel like, “Wait, do I have to be scared again?”

Do you generally work with Muslim legislators in other states?

In terms of legislation, not so much. But in terms of support and trying to navigate this weird world that we’re in, yeah, absolutely, because we’re all going through the very same experience. We are representing our districts, but we are also representing (Muslim communities) who are not just in our districts. So we have unique challenges.

What do you think Mamdani’s victory means for the left in the U.S.?

I think it is really important to understand right now that this is what happens when you take electoral politics seriously and you can specialize your work, because that is deeply important. This campaign, even though a lot of people derisively like to talk about it, was not just the videos. Videos cannot, cannot, cannot manage tens of thousands of volunteers! You need a professional operation. You need to be able to run and have infrastructure, and that’s what we saw here.

What does it mean for pro-Palestine organizing that someone like Zohran can win an election despite the attacks against him?

My hope is that this completely changes the calculus moving forward, because for far too long, everybody has decided that caring about Palestinians was the first thing that they can expend, not realizing that so much of what we do plays a part here. Our police force is trained by the (Israel Defense Forces), our tax dollars are going to Israel. This stuff has local implications. It's not like Palestinians want to be the main character! Nobody wants to experience genocide in their community. Nobody wants to be talked about. Nobody wants to be discourse. Being discourse is deeply dehumanizing. That is not something I had ever hoped for. However, we need to take this issue seriously because it really does play a part in so many other ones.

Do you think this will lead the national Democratic Party to better appreciate Palestinians and pro-Palestinian organizers? Will a Palestinian be allowed to speak at the DNC in 2028?

I’ll be honest with you. The DNC plays little to no part in my life. The fact that I’m known for it is kind of the weirdest irony ever. But here’s what I will say: I hope that every Democrat running around the country stops tiptoeing around our humanity and that caring about our humanity stops being conditional, because I am tired of the conditional commentary about Palestinians. It has been one of the most disappointing experiences of my life that people feel that they cannot even care about the humanity of my people, and I hope that they see this and they change their calculations.

Will you be back to canvass for Mamdani in November?

Yes, and I’ll still be doing the phonebanks, and I’ll still be recommending that people do this work all around the country.