How Muslim American candidates made history in the midterms

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• Judy Woodruff:

  More Muslim Americans ran for political office during this year's midterms than ever before, 153 in total. That's according to a report from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Jetpack Resource Center. And more of them won their races than in any past election.

  Geoff Bennett has more.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Judy, this year's elections proved to be historic, with 89 Muslim American candidates winning local, state, federal and judicial seats across 25 states, according to that report.

  Our next guest, Ruwa Romman, is among them. She's the first known Muslim woman elected to the Georgia House of Representatives and the first Palestinian American elected to any office in the state of Georgia.

  Welcome to the "NewsHour." It's good to have you with us.

  Ruwa Romman (D), Georgia State Representative-Elect: Thanks for having me.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Before you became a politician, you were a longtime volunteer in Democratic Party politics in the state of Georgia.

  It's one thing to be civically engaged. It's another thing to decide to run for office yourself. What motivated your decision to launch a campaign?

• Ruwa Romman:

  I did not decide to run for office is the best way to explain that.

  I had done a lot of work with civic organizations focused on empowering and mobilizing historically marginalized communities, like my Muslim community. And one of those, Georgia Muslim Voter Project, had a training with some local partners to teach people how to run for office. My friend had asked me to attend to support the program and give them feedback on what they should be adding, since I have been doing that sort of work for a long time in Georgia.

  A reporter was there. She writes a great article about the importance of civic engagement for minorities in the state. But she started out with, Ruwa Romman is contemplating a run for office, which I was not. But it was a fair assumption since I was at this training. And my community was so excited, they asked me to run. And, 15 days later, we launched my campaign.

• Geoff Bennett:

  You are an immigrant. You're the granddaughter of Palestinian refugees. You're a Muslim woman who wears a hijab.

  What has the road to political office been like for you?

• Ruwa Romman:

  It's been long, and it's been unexpected sometimes. But it's also been one built by those who've come before me.

  The woman who ran in my seat four years ago is also a Muslim woman. Her name is Aisha Yaqoob. She founded the Georgia Muslim Voter Project. She's currently the executive director of Asian American Advocacy Fund.

  And my win is as a result of that investment, that almost-decade-long investment by the Muslim community, by other minority groups in Georgia that said, hey, we're tired of these decisions being made about us, but without our voices. It's time we were at those tables.

  And so, for years now, these organizations have worked to build the infrastructure needed for campaigns like mine.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Is that what you think accounts for the historic number of Muslim Americans who are not just running for elected office, but, in this last election, won?

• Ruwa Romman:

  Absolutely.

  We have been able to show over years now that, as the community continues to invest time, of course, money, of course, but also their vote, their civic participation, their work and coalitions with other organizations, that we can make history happen. And that's exactly what happened in Georgia.

• Geoff Bennett:

  You ran on a platform focused on increasing public school funding, tackling Medicaid, expanding voting rights.

  How does your background, how does your experience inform your approach to policymaking?

• Ruwa Romman:

  I have been doing this work in Georgia for almost 10 years. I have learned how the General Assembly works here.

  I have the knowledge and the experience to be able to come to the table and say, look, there's a better way of doing this. There's a way of doing this that will benefit Georgians across the board, not just the select few. And I'm really excited to be able to bring that expertise to the table in a way that says, we don't have to turn everything into who's going to make the best headline today.

  It's who can pass the best piece of legislation to help the most Georgians. And that's why we ran the campaign the way that we did this year, which is focusing on putting public service back into politics, focusing on the issues, and making sure that we're able to reach voters and talk to voters at every avenue that we could.

• Geoff Bennett:

  In an election year, most of the attention is focused on lawmakers, it's focused on politicians at the national level.

  You have said that state lawmakers shouldn't be overlooked. Tell me more about that.

• Ruwa Romman:

  Absolutely.

  I always remind people that every piece of legislation that either you love on a national level or absolutely hate on a national level started in a state legislature somewhere around the country. At the end of the day, these laws start right here, in our case, whether it's the heartbeat bill or other pieces of legislation as it pertains to immigration, as it pertains to taxes, even as it pertains to health care.

  We saw this with Obamacare. These things always start at the state level. And us, as state representatives, are the ones that you can reach out to say, look, here's how this personally impacts me. And your voice is now part of a much smaller group of people. So it's even more powerful.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Ruwa Romman, just elected to the Georgia State House of Representatives, thanks so much for your time and for your insight.

• Ruwa Romman:

  Thanks for having me.

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