The race to become the next leader of the Georgia Senate heated up this week as one candidate’s incendiary campaign video drew criticism from both sides of the aisle and another lawmaker made a last-minute entry into the race.
The ad, released earlier this week by state Sen. Greg Dolezal, depicted Muslims terrorizing white Georgia residents and ended with the message “keep Georgia sharia free.” Dolezal, a Cumming Republican who is running for lieutenant governor, characterized Muslims as “invaders who would rather pillage our generosity than assimilate,” in the caption of the video.
The ad received immediate backlash, particularly from Georgia’s Muslim lawmakers, who denounced it as hateful, racist and Islamophobic.
State Rep. Ruwa Romman, a Duluth Democrat and one of two Muslim lawmakers in the House, said the video heightened the dangers faced by Georgia’s Muslim community.
“The sad reality is that people have turned this into an industry where they’re making a lot of money off of rage,” Romman said, adding that the majority of her family lives in Dolezal’s Forsyth County district. “I was, frankly, appalled.”