On November 5, Americans will cast their votes not only for the presidency but also for 34 Senate seats, all 435 House seats, 11 governorships and thousands of state legislative positions. Among the new contenders is Ashwin Ramaswami, a young Indian American Democrat challenging Republican Senator Shawn Still in Georgia’s Senate District 48, a traditionally conservative seat.
Who is Ashwin Ramaswami?
- Ashwin Ramaswami was born to Indian immigrant parents from Tamil Nadu and grew up in Johns Creek. He is running for the Georgia State Senate in District 48, and just meets the minimum age requirement of 25, turning that age in May 2024.
- Ashwin Ramaswami studied Computer Science at Stanford University and then pursued a law degree at Georgetown University, as per his election campaign website.
- He has a strong background in cybersecurity, having worked with CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, where he helped secure local election systems from cyberattacks, and Schmidt Futures, where he conducted research on securing open-source software, which contributed to a bill in Congress. He decided to quit his job at CISA after three years to run for office after realising that the greater threat to democracy lies not just in cyberattacks but in political misinformation surrounding election integrity, reported NBC News.
- During his studies, he taught classes on Hindu philosophy and raised $100,000 for Dharmic programmes at Georgetown, supporting students of various faiths, including Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist.
- Ashwin Ramaswami’s campaign promises election security and integrity, positioning him against Shawn Still’s alleged 2020 election-related activities. Shawn Still was one of the fake electors who participated in the Donald Trump fake electors plot, which aimed to award Georgia’s electoral votes to Donald Trump despite him losing the state to Joe Biden. Mr Ramaswami’s campaign has raised more than $700,000 in funding, which is considered a significant amount for a first-time candidate.
