Who is Ashwin Ramaswami, Indian American contesting against Trump ally in Georgia Senate election

Cybersecurity adept with involvement successful Hindu philosophy

Born to Indian migrant parents from Tamil Nadu, Ramaswami grew up successful Johns Creek — a affluent suburb successful Atlanta that is location to galore Indian American immigrants, mostly successful the tech industry.

Ramaswami studied Computer Science astatine Stanford, past went to Georgetown University for a Law Degree. His Linkedin illustration and run website amusement helium has worked chiefly successful the cybersecurity and tech argumentation space.

In 2017, helium began “working with his archetypal exertion startup astir healthcare regulation”.

While helium was astatine Stanford, helium worked with Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic task founded by erstwhile Google CEO Eric Schmidt that funds subject and exertion projects, researching connected securing unfastened root software, which formed the ground of a Bill successful the American Congress.

Ramaswami besides taught classes for precocious schoolers astir Hindu doctrine and “helped rise $100K to found an endowment for Dharmic programs (for students from Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and different traditions)” portion helium was astatine Georgetown.

Between 2020 and 2023, Ramaswami was with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the “operational pb for national cybersecurity and the nationalist coordinator for captious infrastructure information and resilience”, moving to “build a programme that helped section predetermination officials support their websites from malicious attacks,” NBC News reported.

The 2020 lawsuit astatine the bosom of Ramaswami’s campaign

In 2023, portion Ramaswami was inactive successful Law School, Still was charged for illegally attempting to overturn the 2020 Presidential election.

After Biden won the election, Trump had repeatedly claimed that the predetermination was “stolen”, and that helium had won instead. The authorities of Georgia, which Trump mislaid narrowly, often featured successful his claims. Trump besides allegedly made calls to apical Georgia officials, including Governor Brian Kemp, “to impulse them to find a mode to reverse his nonaccomplishment successful the state”, according to a study by the Associated Press.

Still was among the “16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate falsely stating that Trump had won the authorities and declaring themselves the state’s ‘duly elected and qualified’ electors,” the AP reported. However, this did not halt him from getting elected to the Georgia authorities Senate successful November 2022 — portion nether investigation.

The lawsuit against Still has been the superior absorption of Ramaswami’s campaign. “It is not conscionable hackers hacking into our systems” but “politicians falsely claiming that the predetermination is rigged erstwhile it’s not,” Ramaswami told the NBC.

A ‘very real’ race

Will the electoral interference transportation beryllium capable for Ramaswami to clinch a spot successful the Georgia Senate?

Not quite.

The territory successful which Ramaswami is contesting comprises counties with a precocious fig of immigrants, with astir a 3rd of its residents being overseas born. The Asian assemblage grew from making up 16% of the district’s colonisation successful 2010 to comprising 28% of its colonisation successful 2022.

That said, “there is simply a beardown blimpish streak among Indian Americans” successful the area, an nonfiction successful The New York Times noted. Moreover, arsenic a whole, the territory shows a Republican tilt. Trump had won the territory successful 2020, albeit by a constrictive borderline of 3 percent points.

Nonetheless, Ramaswami’s introduction has breathed beingness into the contest. His run has raised much than $700,000 successful backing — a precocious magnitude for a debutant. Even his hostile has said that the contention is getting close. “This contention has go precise real,” Still said astatine a run event.