Who is Ashwin Ramaswami, first Gen Z Indian-American candidate running for US Senate?

One of Indian-American Ashwin Ramaswami's recent posts on social media platform X seems to sum up his worldview.

“You don’t have to follow the path that everyone else sets for you. It’s so much more inspiring and amazing to do something that no one expects… Ultimately, the goal is to serve others. It’s not about you. It’s about how your community can most benefit from your talents.”

Ramaswami is in the news in the United States for being the first gen Z Indian-American to run for a Senate seat. (Generation Z, also called Zoomers, includes people born between 1997 and 2012). He will be running as a Democrat candidate for a seat in Georgia’s 48th district.

The incumbent is Shawn Still, a Republican who was indicted along with former US President Donald Trump for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election results.

Diverse experience

At the age of 24, Ramaswami already has seven years working experience in software engineering, election security, and technology law and policy research. He has helped build tech startups, worked in the federal government on cybersecurity, and is presently running a consulting company dealing with software architecture, technology law and policy.

He is a second-generation Indian-American whose parents (software engineers, inevitably) migrated to the US from Tamil Nadu in the 1990s. He is a computer science engineer, has a twin brother, and has studied in prestigious institutions like Georgia Tech, Stanford University, and Georgetown University Law Center.

Steeped in Indian culture

In a media interview, Ramaswami had said that he is the child of immigrants, but 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,” he had said.

Further, he revealed that his mom is from Chennai, and his dad from Coimbatore and that he had always grown up exposed to Indian and American culture. Though, he pointed out, "I’m a Hindu. I’ve been very interested in Indian culture and philosophy my whole life.

Having learnt Sanskrit in college, this young Indian-American read up a lot of ancient texts and became very interested in reading the Upanishads. He is also into yoga and meditation.

Campaign’s focus

Elaborating on his campaign’s focus, Ramaswami said that they want everyone to have access to a quality education, healthcare, jobs, entrepreneurship, reproductive rights, and all the issues that matter to them.

Speaking to PTI, he said, “I want to ensure that everyone has equal opportunities, just like I did while 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.”

Politically aware

Ramaswami believed that people of his generation is “very aware politically”.

“We very much see the news, and we want to ensure a good future for ourselves. But one problem we face is that we don’t have the resources or ability to actually go and make a difference. It’s really hard for people my age to get elected because the election process skews towards people who are wealthier and older. 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,” said the young politician wannabe.