As Americans prepare to vote on November 5, alongside the presidential election, they will also choose 34 Senate seats, all 435 House seats, 11 governorships, and thousands of state legislative positions. Among the candidates is Ashwin Ramaswami, a young Indian American Democrat vying for Georgia’s Senate District 48, a historically conservative seat, against Republican Senator Shawn Still.
Born to Indian immigrant parents from Tamil Nadu, Ashwin Ramaswami grew up in Johns Creek, Georgia. He is running for the Georgia State Senate and will turn 25 in May 2024, meeting the minimum age requirement for the position. Ramaswami studied Computer Science at Stanford University before pursuing a law degree at Georgetown University, according to his election campaign website.
Ramaswami has a solid background in cybersecurity, having worked at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). There, he helped protect local election systems from cyberattacks and contributed to a Congressional bill on securing open-source software during his time at Schmidt Futures. After three years at CISA, Ramaswami decided to run for office, recognizing that the greatest threat to democracy stems from political misinformation about election integrity, rather than just cyberattacks, as reported by NBC News.
While studying, Ramaswami taught classes on Hindu philosophy and successfully raised $100,000 for Dharmic programs at Georgetown, which supported students of various faiths, including Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism.
Ramaswami’s campaign emphasizes election security and integrity, directly opposing Shawn Still’s involvement in the alleged 2020 election-related activities. Still was part of the group of fake electors who attempted to award Georgia’s electoral votes to Donald Trump despite his loss to Joe Biden in the state. Ramaswami’s campaign has successfully raised over $700,000, a noteworthy achievement for a first-time candidate.
As the election draws near, Ramaswami’s challenge highlights a shift in the political landscape of Georgia, where he aims to bring new perspectives to the State Senate.