Washington: Ashwin Ramaswami has become the first Indian-American from Gen Z - those born between 1997 and 2012 - to run for a state or federal legislature in the US, indicative of a new breed of young politicians emerging from the community.
Ramaswami’s parents immigrated to the US from Tamil Nadu in 1990. “I’m running for (Georgia) state senate in order to give back to my community. I want to make sure that everyone has the same opportunities that I had growing up,” Ramaswami, 24, said in a recent interview. “I want to make sure we have a new voice, people who are young, who come from unconventional backgrounds in politics because it’s really important that we have people who represent us, not just people who can afford to do it,” he said.
A second-generation Indian-American who has built a career in software engineering, election security, and technology law and policy research, is running in the Democratic party for state senate in district 48 of Georgia.
Ramaswami is a Democrat and he is hoping to replace incumbent Republican Shawn Still, who was indicted with former President Trump for the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.
If elected, he would be the first Gen Z state senator in Georgia and the only Georgia state legislator with both a computer science and a law degree. By doing so, he would also break barriers as the first Indian American in the Georgia state legislature.
A native of Georgia, Ramaswami has worked with nonprofits, startups, and small businesses to use technology for the public interest and create jobs. As a civil servant, he worked at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on cybersecurity and election security, working with state and local election offices to secure the 2020 and 2022 elections. He also worked as a legal fellow in the Georgia attorney general’s consumer protection division.