Ashwin Ramaswami, who has a background in software engineering, election security, and technology law, is the first Indian-American from Generation Z to run for a state or federal legislature in the United States. Generation Z, often known as Zoomers, is made up of persons born between 1997 and 2012. Ramaswami, a Democrat, is running for State Senate in Georgia’s 48th district, which encompasses sections of Johns Creek, Suwanee, Alpharetta, Cumming, Sugar Hill, and Buford. The position is now held by Republican Shawn Still, who was indicted alongside former President Donald Trump on charges of attempting to overturn 2020 election results.
Born to parents who immigrated to the US from Tamil Nadu in 1990, Ramaswami graduated from Stanford in 2021, where he studied computer science. “I’m the child of immigrants, but I was born and raised in Johns Creek. For a long time, I was interested in how I could give back to my community. I didn’t want to stay in the Bay. I wanted to come and give back,” said Ramaswami, 24, in an interview with The Stanford Daily. “I have strong ties. I’d also break barriers in terms of being the first Indian American and Gen Z member of the Georgia State Senate. So I’d bring a new voice to politics,” he added.
Ramaswami, whose parents are from the IT sector, has developed an interest in Indian cultural philosophy. While growing up, he enjoyed learning more about epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita. “My parents both came to the US in the 1990s. They both came from Tamil Nadu. My mom is from Chennai, my dad is from Coimbatore. I’ve always grown up with Indian culture and also American culture growing up as well. I’m a Hindu. I’ve been very interested in Indian culture philosophy my whole life,” he told in another interview with PTI. “When I was in college, I actually learned Sanskrit and ended up reading a lot of ancient texts and got very interested in reading Upanishads, ..and my whole life I’ve been very involved in yoga and meditation and now also teaching Baal Vihara to younger students,” he said.
Ramaswami has worked with nonprofits, startups, and small businesses to use technology to help the public and create jobs
On being asked how his young age impacted the experience of running a campaign so far, he said: “It’s really about bridging that gap. So, of course, I’m talking to people my age who are excited there’s someone like them representing them, but then I’m talking a lot to people from other generations who have the resources that [Gen Z candidates] need to succeed but also understand we need new voices. The most important thing is your integrity and competence.”
Ramaswami further spoke about the issues he would be hoping to address if elected to the office. “Everyone should make sure they have access to a quality education. We want to make sure people have access to jobs and the economy, entrepreneurship and also access to healthcare, reproductive rights and all these issues that matter to us. That’s why I’ve been running.” “Public safety is [a top priority] as well. We have to make sure our communities are safe. We really want to prevent things like school shootings,” he added.
If elected, he will be Georgia’s first Generation Z state senator and the only one with degrees in both computer science and law. He would also break new ground as the first Indian American to serve in the Georgia State Legislature. Ramaswami, a Georgia native, has worked with nonprofits, startups, and small businesses to use technology to help the public and create jobs. As a public worker, he worked for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in cybersecurity and election security, cooperating with state and municipal election offices to safeguard the 2020 and 2022 elections. He also worked as a legal fellow in the Georgia Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.
“I did my undergraduate at Stanford in computer science. I worked a lot on startups at work, but I soon realised that we need more tech people in the federal government, which is why I joined the federal government and started working on election security and cybersecurity starting in 2020,” he said.
