Georgia needs a leader like New York’s Mamdani who fights for everyday people
Pundits have said and written quite a bit about the recent New York City mayoral race, where Zohran Mamdani not only won the primary but set the record for primary turnout and commanded a significant margin of victory. Too many, however, attribute his victory simply to his engaging online videos.
The reality, though, is more complex. Zohran won because of his laser focus on the issues that mattered the most for New Yorkers and his incredible field operation — 50,000 volunteers knocked on 1.6 million doors and had 247,000 conversations.
To put that in perspective, a little over 1 million total people voted in the entire primary. His platform to freeze the rent, make buses fast and free, establish universal child care, and make groceries cheaper spoke to New Yorkers’ daily concerns. He communicated his values, and the values of his voters, through his policies.
Here in Georgia, our voters similarly yearn for a platform tailored to them. We face rising costs even as our minimum wage sits below the federal $7.25. There is not a single county in the state where someone can afford to live off of that, much less the laughable $5.15 state minimum.
Health insurance companies are charging us higher premiums even as we experience some of the worst health outcomes and as more than 20 rural hospitals and 37 nursing homes are in danger of closing, too. Every year, Democrats fight to feed hungry kids. Meanwhile, Republican leaders continue to make it easier for corporations to take our money, houses, land and so much more.
Georgians deserve leaders who put them above special interests
It’s untenable. As we look to 2026, voters keep communicating over and over again that they want leaders who put them first.
Georgians deserve leaders who they can believe will fight for them, not sell them out. The days of giving corporations everything while the rest of us get crumbs must come to an end.
Yet, too many in their understandable pessimism insist this is the way things are and will always be. Talking heads continue to turn a blind eye to our Republican state leadership’s mismanagement and their callous disregard for Georgians’ needs.
We see special interest bill after special interest bill fly through the legislature, while legislation on the minimum wage, eliminating Georgia’s waitlists for home and community-based services, expanding Medicaid, and even stopping corporations from taking our homes has stalled. Republicans saw our farmers become sick from pesticides and, rather than address their health care needs, passed legislation to shield those same pesticide corporations from liability. When the federal government took food and medicine from our poorest in the Big Beautiful Bill, Georgia Republicans cheered them on. It is shameful.
I don’t know about y’all, but Georgians are worth fighting for. We have an opportunity in 2026 to change who leads us, to put people in power who will fight for the people and not the corporations and billionaires.
We deserve a governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and state legislature that fights for and puts Georgians first. We need people in office who stay up at night worrying about the things we worry about and whose first concern isn’t what is politically beneficial but what’s right. We’ve heard enough poll-tested statements; we need solutions.
Mamdani was not cowed by bullies, nor should Georgians be
We need a leader who will build a movement laser-focused on feeding hungry kids because no child should go hungry while corporations post record profits. We need a leader who will do all they can to reopen hospitals so families no longer have to mourn the empty seat at their table because the hospital was too far away.
We need a leader who will fight to raise the minimum wage because too many people keep working more yet fall further behind. And we need a leader who firmly believes that a home should belong to a family, not corporations.
Of course, the political realities will make pursuing these goals hard, but again I ask: isn’t Georgia worth trying for? Isn’t it time to imagine what could be instead of insisting that what currently exists is the only possibility?
Volunteers and voters showed up for Zohran because he unflinchingly put them above all else. Even when landlords backing primary opponent and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tried to keep his volunteers out of buildings, he didn’t back down from his message. When he received death threats, instead of hiding, he walked the length of Manhattan. Every opportunity where it would have been understandable for him to retreat, he refused.
That refusal to negotiate with those putting corporate interests above people is how every elected official should operate. Of course, Georgia isn’t New York. Our policy needs are different. But, I’d argue, we’ve fought harder and gotten further in the past.
The cradle of the Civil Rights Movement is here. We’ve led the nation into better tomorrows. We can do it again. We just need to be brave enough to try.
State Rep. Ruwa Romman, D-Duluth, represents House of Representatives District 97 in the Georgia General Assembly.
