Sheikh Rahman (born November 15, 1960) is a Bangladeshi-American politician who has served in the Georgia State Senate from the 5th district since January 14, 2019. He is the first Muslim lawmaker in Georgia.

Sheikh Rahman was born in East Pakistan, a former province of Pakistan that is now Bangladesh. He moved to Lawrenceville, Georgia and attended Central Piedmont Community College in 1981. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 1995 with a Bachelor of Business Administration. He has a wife, Sham'e (née Afrose), and two kids, Rawda (daughter) and Anzar (son).

After finishing high school, Sheikh arrived to America on January 7, 1981 in order to attend Central Piedmont Community College. Though he was the son of high-ranking government officials in his birth country, Rahman took a job as a dishwasher in a North Carolinian restaurant while making $3.35 per hour to help pay for college and to perfect his English.

Rahman arrived at the height of the Iranian hostage crisis and he too soon felt the sting of xenophobia and racism. But Rahman persevered, winning friends with his work ethic and intelligence. In 1995, after a 14-year process, Sheikh Rahman became a U.S. citizen and finally finished his undergraduate degree in Economics & Global Studies at the University of Georgia, where he was elected as Student Senator and President of the Global Studies Association.

Rahman worked his way up the ladder of the restaurant industry, from dishwasher to restaurant manager to corporate executive at Pizza Hut.

He made an entrepreneurial leap from restaurants to real estate and now manages rental properties across the state.

From the moment he stepped foot on American soil, Rahman was involved in local politics. A college friend invited him to work on a political campaign for Charlotte’s Mayor, Eddie Knox, who was running for Governor. He continued to work on political campaigns but never thought of running for office himself, until he saw a man with a “funny name,” educated in Indonesia, who then became President of the United States — Barack Obama.

After 2008, Rahman became heavily involved in politics, joining the NAACP, National Action Network, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Democratic Party of Georgia. In addition to serving as an active member of the Labor, Asian-American and LGBT caucuses, he is a SuperDelegate for the State of Georgia. He also serves as an advisor to the Alliance of South Asian American Labor.

Sheikh Rahman is the first immigrant ever elected to the Georgia Senate, where he brings his wealth of experience as an entrepreneur and first-generation American to the table and makes sure everyone in Gwinnett is well heard.