As leaves fell off the trees near the basketball court and onto the parking lot at Melvin Drive Park, Team Ruwa Romman staffers brought out a folding table from the trunk of a car and placed it under a tree. Next came boxes of voting material and the t-shirts for canvassers. The shirts resemble the glowing signs of a certain local restaurant chain and are given to any volunteers who sign up to help spread the word.
Romman, one of a handful of Democratic gubernatorial candidates vying for the 2026 nomination, was canvassing in southwest Atlanta on Saturday afternoon. Romman sat down with The Atlanta Voice moments before the first of several canvassers arrived to begin their shifts. She had already been canvassing in metro Atlanta’s northern suburbs and was back in the SWATS to talk with volunteers about why this part of the city was just as important as any to knock doors in.
“We want to canvas everywhere,” said Romman, who has plans to be in Athens and Savannah on Sunday. The Athens canvass will take place a day after the Georgia Bulldogs will host the Texas Longhorns in one of the highly anticipated college football games of the season.
Romman represents west Gwinnett County and can be considered one of the key candidates in her district, but canvassing in the SWATS can be considered a strategic move because of some of the other candidates being more familiar in the state’s largest county.
“Building a statewide canvassing operation takes a long time,” Romman said. “And we’re just getting started. I think this is how you gain momentum.”…