Georgia's first Latina lawmaker eyes Gold Dome return
Lopez Romero seeks to emerge from five-year absence
Georgia’s first Latina state lawmaker wants to reclaim her spot under the Gold Dome after a five-year hiatus.
Former State Rep. Brenda Lopez Romero, a Democrat, says she is running for “re-election” in House District 98, the same Gwinnett-based district she left behind at the end of 2020.
The seat is currently held by Democrat Marvin Lim, a Norcross attorney who was elected to succeed Lopez Romero. Rep. Lim was re-elected in both 2022 and 2024 and said he plans to seek a fourth term.
Lopez Romero was first elected to the General Assembly in 2016 and re-elected in 2018. She decided not to run for a third term in 2020, instead running unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for a competitive congressional seat.
But the Mexican-born Lopez Romero has remained politically engaged since leaving office. She took the helm of the Gwinnett County Democratic Party in 2021, leading them through two tough election cycles and solidifying the suburban county’s political transformation. She now works as a senior prosecutor in the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s office.
But she says she is eyeing a return to elected politics because we are witnessing a “full-blown assault on our Constitution, our institutions, and the fabric of American democracy.”
“Let’s get one thing straight — our American Dream is under attack by an unhinged president and billionaires who are defunding our public schools, wrecking our economy, targeting public servants, and vilifying diverse communities,” Lopez Romero said on her campaign website, referring to President Donald Trump and his second administration. “We cannot afford to sit back.”
Lim, meanwhile, is touting his legislative accomplishments on social media ahead of the 2026 campaign. He said in an April Facebook post that he is the first lawmaker from this district to have a bill signed by the governor in over two decades and that he had more bills pass the House unanimously than any of his Democratic colleagues.
The incumbent is also challenging his predecessor-turned-opponent’s claim that she is running for “re-election” to the seat she gave up half a decade ago. “I cannot take seriously a challenger who, in 4 years as State Rep, introduced ONE bill as first sponsor,” he said. “Furthermore, she just moved back to the district in the last few months, having voluntarily left this post for a run at higher office - yet is already using the misleading ‘re-elect’ language.”