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Journalism of Courage
Ashwin Ramaswami has become the first Gen Z Indian-American to run for a state or federal legislature in the United States, news agency PTI reported. If elected, the 24-year-old would be the first Gen Z State Senator in Georgia.
Speaking to PTI, Ramaswami said, “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.”
“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 told the news agency.
Ashwin is a second-generation Indian-American, with a career in software engineering, election security, technology, law and policy research, the report said.
A Democrat, Ramaswami hopes to replace incumbent Republican Shawn Still, who inducted the former US President Donald Trump for the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, PTI stated. If elected, he would become the only Georgia state legislator with both a computer science and a law degree.
His parents shifted to the US in the 1990s from Tamil Nadu, and worked in the IT sector. Ramaswami told the news agency, for him, a very important part of his heritage is thinking about where his family comes from and “those values that we’re bringing to the table as well.”
Ramaswami went to Chinmaya Mission Balavihar, and finished his undergraduate in computer science from Stanford University. He learnt Sanskrit while in Chinmaya and developed an interest in reading ancient texts and Upanishads, PTI quoted Ramaswami.
A native of Georgia, Ramaswami worked with nonprofits, startups, and small businesses to use technology for the public interest and create jobs. Moreover, as a civil servant, he worked at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on cybersecurity and election security, working with state and local election offices to secure 2020 and 2022 elections. According to the report, he also worked as a legal fellow in the Georgia Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.
Ramaswami underlined that his Gen Z generation is “very aware politically” of what is going on.
“We very much see the news, we see all these things happening, and we want to ensure a good future for ourselves. But I think one problem we face is we don’t have the resources or ability to actually go and make a difference in the sense that it’s really hard for people my age to get elected because the election process skews towards people who are wealthier and older. So that’s one big problem. I hope to show by being successful at this age that we can have that kind of a voice and we can work for everyone regardless of background,” he asserted while speaking to PTI.
