Muhammad Akbar Ali Becomes Youngest Georgia State Legislator
Muhammad Akbar Ali, aged 21, won a runoff election in December 2025 for a Georgia state House seat representing a district in the Snellville area of Gwinnett County, a suburb of Atlanta. This victory made him the youngest serving state legislator in Georgia and potentially the youngest ever.
The district he represents is about 70% non-white, composed of Black, Latino, and Asian residents. Ali highlighted his commitment to reaching diverse communities, engaging with immigrant-owned small businesses during his campaign through translators in Spanish and Korean. He also emphasized his U.S. citizenship and took a firm stance against Islamophobia.
Ali plans to work collaboratively across the aisle in the Republican-dominated legislature, relying on his experience and a relationship-based approach. His activism began in elementary school following zoning roadblocks to a new mosque in Lilburn. He later helped recharter the Gwinnett County Young Democrats and the Gwinnett County Democratic Party.
Prior to his election, Ali served as a legislative aide to state Senator Kim Jackson and was a member of the Gwinnett County transit advisory board. His candidacy received backing from groups including the Atlanta chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and former governor Roy Barnes.
Ali’s platform focuses on expanding Medicaid, addressing investor-owned housing, reducing property taxes, improving school safety, and lowering high insurance costs for small businesses. He framed affordability as a concrete policy issue and expressed concern over declining youth political participation, which he attributed to partisan bickering.
