Georgia Can Make History on June 16—Don’t Blow It
Nabilah Parkes is poised to become Georgia’s first Muslim Lieutenant Governor. The establishment is already trying to stop her. We cannot let them.
We have the chance to make history in Georgia. To ride the blue wave and elect into office true working class fighters. If ever we are going to make history, it is this year. On June 16th, Georgia Democrats will choose between two candidates for Lieutenant Governor in a runoff election that has received far less national attention than it deserves.
On one side: Nabilah Parkes—a grassroots organizer, former state senator, and fighter who has spent her career standing unambiguously on the side of working people, immigrants, and human dignity. If elected, she will proceed to the November general election to make history as Georgia’s first Muslim Lieutenant Governor. At a moment when anti-Muslim hate crimes are at record highs and when Muslim Americans are being targeted by their own government, representation from leaders like Nabilah is not just symbolic, but structurally vital.
On the other side: Josh McLaurin—the establishment favorite, the centrist white male Democrat who is getting the institutional endorsements, and whose record, when examined honestly, reveals exactly the kind of complicit and cowardly politician we cannot afford at this moment in history.
I want to talk about that record. Because the Democratic establishment is once again doing what it always does—anointing the “safe” candidate, the “electable” candidate, the candidate they think won’t scare anyone—while the actual fighters who will truly show up for working people are outspent and undersupported.
We are facing fascism. Not a policy disagreement. Not a rough patch in the political cycle. Fascism. And the response to fascism cannot be a Democrat who jokes around on the Senate floor, praises fake electors on Fox News, and who votes to shield Monsanto from cancer victims.
We need fighters. Nabilah Parkes is one such fighter. Let’s Address This.
We Already Know What Centrist Democrats Do When Elected—They’ve Told Us
Before I get to McLaurin’s specific record, let me situate this race in the broader pattern of establishment Democratic betrayal. I’ve written about this before and it bears repeating, because Georgia voters deserve to know what they are buying when they vote for the “safe” centrist choice. It is this white moderate, about whom Dr. King warned:
The Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’;
Centrist, corporate Democrats are the modern day white moderates Dr. King warned us about. And they continue to fail to meet the moment. This is not a pattern that requires speculation. It is documented. It is repeating. And it will repeat again in Georgia if we hand the Lieutenant Governor’s office to another centrist, corporate Democrat who has already shown us—through his own votes, his own words, and his choices—exactly who he is.
Let me pull out the receipts on Josh McLaurin’s record that the establishment does not want voters to see. Let’s read it together.
McLaurin Voted to Shield Monsanto from Cancer Victims
In March 2025, Josh McLaurin voted yes on SB 144—legislation that effectively protects pesticide and herbicide manufacturers like Bayer/Monsanto from lawsuits brought by Georgians harmed by products like Roundup, when those products carry EPA-approved labels.
Let us be clear about what that means in practice. A Georgia jury had just awarded $2.1 billion to a man who said Roundup caused his cancer. Bayer/Monsanto faced tens of thousands of additional claims from people nationwide alleging the same. And Josh McLaurin voted to make it harder for those people—working Georgians, cancer victims, families—to hold one of the most powerful chemical corporations in the world accountable.
The vote was 42–12. McLaurin was on the wrong side.
Let me repeat, McLaurin is telling voters he sides with corporations over working people. When people show you who they are, believe them the first time and don’t expect them to change. Josh McLaurin siding with corporate protection over human dignity is summed up in one word: disqualifying.
McLaurin Voted for a Bill That Criminalizes Palestinian Solidarity
In 2024, McLaurin voted yes on HB 30—Georgia’s so-called “antisemitism” bill that was pushed by Benjamin Netanyahu himself. He voted for it despite clear and documented warnings from civil liberties advocates that the legislation would be weaponized against legitimate political speech.
The Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta and the Say No to HB 30 Coalition were explicit: the bill would “exacerbate anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia” and “criminalizes the movement for a free Palestine”. Civil liberties organizations across Georgia raised the alarm. Members of his own party objected. As I’ve written before, the definition of antisemitism this bill and others like it espouse do little to stop antisemitism, and do much to criminalize free speech and legitimate criticism of the Israeli government.
McLaurin voted yes anyway.
I have written extensively about the difference between combating genuine antisemitism—which I have spent my career doing—and weaponizing the accusation of antisemitism to silence political speech and Palestinian solidarity. HB 30 is the latter. It is a tool designed to conflate legitimate criticism of Israeli government policy with hatred of Jewish people.
McLaurin voted for it. Nabilah Parkes did not.
McLaurin Praised a MAGA Fake Elector on Fox News
In August 2023, while Fani Willis was conducting one of the most consequential investigations in Georgia’s history—examining the fake elector scheme designed to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results—Josh McLaurin went on Fox News to praise Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones.
His quote, delivered on Fox while Jones was under active investigation for his role in the scheme: “My experience with Lieutenant Governor Jones has just been serving in the Senate, where he has been straightforward in his communication and willingness to work with members of the minority party.”
Let that land. Burt Jones was one of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed documents falsely claiming Trump won Georgia. He participated in a coordinated effort to keep a defeated president in power by deceiving the United States Congress. And Josh McLaurin’s response—at the precise moment a Democratic prosecutor was holding Jones accountable—was to go on Fox News and vouch for his character.
When Democrats needed to draw a hard line against the attempted theft of Georgia’s election, McLaurin drew a character reference instead. Again, when people show you who they are…
McLaurin Refused to Cosponsor Nabilah Parkes’ ICE Warrant Bill
In January 2026, Senator Nabilah Parkes introduced SB 391—legislation that would prohibit federal, state, or local government employees from conducting immigration enforcement in sensitive locations without a judicial warrant. Those protected locations included schools, hospitals, places of worship, public libraries, and domestic violence shelters. This was policy under the Biden administration, and the Trump regime has repealed this long-standing rule.
Senator Parkes personally asked Josh McLaurin to cosponsor the bill.
He declined.
This is not a procedural footnote. This is a moral statement. At a moment when ICE is conducting operations near schools, churches, and hospitals—terrorizing immigrant communities and making children afraid to go to class—McLaurin refused to put his name on legislation requiring federal agents to obtain a judge’s signature before entering those spaces.
This is just another indefensible red flag and warning of how he would govern if elected. It is not a flag we can afford to ignore.
The Trump License Plate: When Clowning Around Is All You Have
Finally, I share this example to demonstrate McLaurin’s unseriousness. Twice—in 2024 and again in 2026—McLaurin introduced an amendment that would have renamed Georgia’s “America First” license plate the “Donald J. Trump First” license plate. He called it a “joke”. A stunt to expose Republican hypocrisy.
The first time, it failed 26–29. The second time, 24–32.
At a time when Georgians needed their state senators fighting for affordability, voting rights, healthcare access, and the protection of immigrant communities—McLaurin was engineering pranks on the Senate floor that almost backfired spectacularly.
This is not the energy of a leader who understands what we are up against. This is the energy of someone who is not taking the threat seriously enough to stop performing for it. But again, none of this should be a surprise to anyone. Centrism is not a governing philosophy. It is a permission structure for inaction dressed up as pragmatism. And at a moment when the machinery of fascism is actively dismantling democratic institutions, the environment, healthcare access, and immigrant rights—inaction is not neutral. It is complicity.
This is not a purity test. It is an integrity test.
I want to be clear about something—because the establishment always responds to calls for accountability with the same dismissal: “You’re applying a purity test. Nobody is perfect. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
That framing is designed to immunize bad records from scrutiny and excuse centrists from their failures. Here’s the thing—I am not asking for purity. I am asking for integrity. And in a primary election, we must prioritize integrity over complicity.
Integrity means not voting to shield Monsanto from cancer victims while claiming to fight for working people. Integrity means not praising fake electors on Fox News while claiming to defend democracy. Integrity means not refusing to cosponsor a bill protecting immigrants in churches and hospitals—while claiming to stand against ICE overreach. Integrity means not running a stunt that almost put Trump’s name on a Georgia license plate while claiming to fight Trumpism.
These are not purity tests. These are the basic threshold questions of whether a candidate’s words match their actions. And on that threshold, Josh McLaurin’s record is indefensible.
Nabilah Parkes: What Integrity Actually Looks Like
If you’ve followed my writing for any period of time you know this truth: I never cite a problem without also offering an answer. Senator Nabilah Parkes is that answer, and it isn’t even close.
I have followed Senator Nabilah Parkes’ career for nearly a decade. In that time, she has never wavered. She has never performed progressive values while voting for corporate interests. She has never praised the people she was supposed to be holding accountable.
She fought valiantly to elect Kamala Harris in 2024, doing the grassroots organizing work that wins elections in Georgia. She has been unambiguous about the humanity of both Palestinian and Jewish people—condemning the genocide in Gaza with the same moral clarity with which she condemns antisemitism. She understands, as I do, that these are not competing commitments. They are the same commitment: to human dignity, without exception and without caveat.
At a time of relentless attacks on women’s health and safety, Senator Parkes has stood as a relentless shield. While Josh McLaurin was shielding Monsanto from cancer victims and joking around with Trump license plates, Nabilah Parkes was doing the unglamorous, essential work of making Georgia more affordable for the people who actually live here. She introduced legislation to eliminate Georgia’s tax on menstrual products and fought to remove taxes on diapers and formula. She fought to restore Georgia’s back-to-school sales tax holiday so parents could afford pencils and notebooks without choosing between school supplies and groceries. And she rallied both Democrats and Republicans to support these critical pieces of legislation. Senator Parkes took on the insurance industry directly—introducing legislation to prohibit insurance companies from using credit scores and ZIP codes to set home and auto insurance rates, practices that systematically overcharge working-class and minority communities for no reason other than where they live and how much they earn.
And while too many centrist politicians excuse the explosion of data centers, Senator Parkes proposed ending special corporate subsidies for data centers and insurance companies, redirecting those resources into real property tax relief for homeowners and renters who are being priced out of their own state. That is what it looks like when a legislator is right on the issues and ahead of the curve.
If elected Lieutenant Governor, she will make history—not just as the first Muslim to hold that office in Georgia, but as proof that you do not have to choose between electability and integrity, between political viability and moral courage.
Georgia Knows How To Show Up
The runoff is June 16th. Georgia voters have always shown up to do the hard things, despite the odds. This is another such moment. We have no time for hesitation, no room for complacency, and no margin for the kind of institutional inertia that has handed us centrist Democrats who govern for corporations instead of communities.
The establishment will outspend Parkes. The institutional endorsements will go to McLaurin. The “safe choice” narrative will dominate corporate media coverage.
None of that matters if Georgians show up.
Vote for Nabilah Parkes on June 16th. Share this article with every Georgian you know. Make noise. Make calls. And demand that the Democratic Party learn—once and for all—that the path forward runs through fighters for working families, not appeasers who shield Monsanto from cancer victims and decline to protect immigrants in hospitals and houses of worship.
Georgia deserves a Lieutenant Governor with integrity—that is Nabilah Islam Parkes.
Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, accountability, and the people-powered politics that corporate media ignores. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.
I don't live in Georgia anymore, but appreciate you writing this. Let's do this!
Like Mamdani I truly hope Nabilah Parkes wins. The tide is turning little by little and I think Ms. Parkes can do so much to help this along!!!!