ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia state House member who supported the Palestinians at the 2024 Democratic National Convention is joining the governor’s race in the state.

Ruwa Romman announced her 2026 bid for governor on Monday, saying Democrats need a clearer vision and greater focus on organizing voters.

She’s at least the eighth Democrat to run for the position. Other entrants in the race include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, Geoff Duncan, who switched from Republican to Democrat, former state Sen. Jason Esteves, and state Rep. Derrick Jackson.

Romman, 32, was elected to the state House in 2022 and represents a district in Gwinnett County, a suburb of Atlanta. She aims to increase Georgia’s minimum wage, reopen hospitals that have shuttered, and push companies to sell off single-family homes they have acquired. She pledges to bring “a new kind of politics” with a “vision for the future” intended to draw in voters.

“People have been too cautious or too compromising with special interests and large corporations for far too long, leaving many behind,” Romman stated. She cautions that this careful approach could mean Democrats won’t be motivated to vote in 2026, possibly leading many to abstain from voting.

Romman and fellow Democrats aspire to end the Republicans’ 24-year dominance of the state’s highest office, as Gov. Brian Kemp is prohibited from pursuing reelection due to term limits. Republican contenders include Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Attorney General Chris Carr, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Last year, Romman participated in a movement that withheld support from Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention due to criticism of President Joe Biden’s management of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Born in Jordan and the granddaughter of Palestinian refugees, Romman was proposed as a speaker at the convention. She was never allowed to address the gathering but released the text of a speech that endorsed Harris while saying said she wanted the parties to “reach a ceasefire, end the killing of Palestinians, free all the Israeli and Palestinian hostages, and to begin the difficult work of building a path to collective peace and safety.”

An observant Muslim who wears a headscarf, Romman said her Palestinian heritage is not a liability.

“My identity is a positive because you know that because of my background, I am not going to back down from a fight,” she said. “I have seen oppression firsthand.”

She pushed back against a bill that defined antisemitism in state law, saying it could stifle criticism of the government of Israel.

Romman said she attended high school in a conservative Atlanta suburb and knows how to persuade Georgians. Romman said that attacks on her heritage and activism would just seek to “distract from the real issues that are happening all around us.”

She expressed confidence that a campaign focused on face-to-face political organizing could build a movement that would turn out more voters. That’s been a bedrock belief of Georgia Democrats allied with two-time Democratic nominee for governor Stacey Abrams, but has yet to translate into a stable Democratic majority.

“We actually have the power to be able to put our state and to put our country on a different path — it just requires all of us to show up,” Romman said. “And when we want people to show up, we have to give them something tangible to show up for.”