I first met Ashwin Ramaswami while living in Washington, D.C., during our time at Georgetown Law School. I was pursuing my Master of Laws degree,, while Ashwin was enrolled in the Juris Doctor program. Both of us were student representatives for our respective programs at Georgetown Law Center Student Bar Association (“SBA”), where Ashwin stood out as a highly active and dedicated leader for the university's well-being and also as a very humble and friendly person.
After leaving Washington D.C., I returned to the country of Georgia. Meanwhile, Ashwin is now actively campaigning in the state of Georgia to become a State Senator, working to bring about significant changes in his state. As a prominent representative of Generation Z, Ashwin, who is only 24 years old, exemplifies the critical role that young people can play in politics and community leadership if they step up and decide to make their voices heard.
I believe the Georgian audience would find Ashwin's story and plans very interesting and relevant. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview him to share his insights and vision ahead of November elections.
Giorgi Shalamberidze: Ashwin, thank you for finding time for the meeting and interview. I would like to ask about your decision to enter politics. What were the main motivations behind it?
Ashwin Ramaswami: I will start with the beginning. I was born and grew up in Johns Creek, Georgia, which is where I am running now, I am the son of immigrants from South India. Growing up I always learned the value of what we would call in our Indian American community Seva, which is the value of community service - giving back to the community more than what we take - something that has always stuck with me, regardless of what I have done.
I focused on technology and computer science, did a lot of coding growing up in the schools here, and did my undergrad at Stanford, but I soon realized that rather than working at a tech company, it was far more fulfilling and impactful to work in public service because so few people with my kind of background end up going there; but so many problems society is facing are around things like social media, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.
So I worked in the federal government for about three years, starting in 2020, on election security and cybersecurity. That is part of what further got me interested in government and public service work. Then I went to law school at Georgetown because I wanted to further get involved in law and policy work. Through that whole process, I not only got involved in technology law and policy issues, but I saw how much value someone like me with my background can really bring to any place, whether it was DC or Georgia.
Looking back into my own community and thinking about how I serve them, I saw that we are still facing a lot of issues and some of them have gotten worse – schools are becoming more competitive; we are not fully funding and paying our teachers; not everyone has access to affordable healthcare here and Georgia has a very large surplus budget. But state legislators are not necessarily investing in things like affordable housing or the investments we need for the future. So that is what made me realize that I think my time is best spent coming home and serving my own community, because all those people are who made me into who I am today.
The moment that made me realize that this is the time and the seed to run for state senate was last year when I saw the news that the current state senator for my hometown - Shawn Still – was criminally indicted with Donald Trump for attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. That is partly when I realized that, not only we do not have people who are focusing on the community, but we are literally having people who will be spending time in a courtroom instead of working on issues that affect our communities.
And I realized that someone needs to stand up and say that this isn't what our community stands for — and that this is something which I could do.
Giorgi Shalamberidze: Ashwin, thank you. Now I want to ask you also about youth participation in US politics. Do you consider that Generation Z representatives like you are very active in politics, or do you think that they need to be a little bit more active?
Ashwin Ramaswami: Generation Z very much cares about politics, because these issues are impacting our lives. We have seen the consequences of the past 20, 30 years of policies, and we are seeing problems that affect our future. We have a climate crisis and people still have not stepped up really to fully address it; we are seeing the affordability and housing crisis; and all the changes with technology. Yet many of the people in politics do not have the background or perspective to fully address these issues.
Youth has always been involved in protesting or advocating or getting involved in other ways. They also run a lot of the staff – for many members of Congress, their staff are in their twenties. But the problem is they haven't had the opportunity to come out and be the face of these movements because it is hard to run for office when you are younger, in your twenties – there are systemic disadvantages.
But that is why I hope that with my campaign, we are taking one more step forward by showing young people that this is possible. Once I win, I can be someone who can help advise other young people running for office and help raise money for them - really taking all that I have learned and helping other folks also have a voice.
Giorgi Shalamberidze: Thank you very much. I want to also ask you about the political processes in the US now - how would you evaluate them? What is going on from your perspective and how do you see the trajectory of those processes?
Ashwin Ramaswami: The biggest problem I see today with US politics is apathy. Everyone realizes how much politics affects their lives. However, people are getting disillusioned because they see people like Donald Trump who hold positions of power in spite of building their career on lies. Or we see people in politics who are just corrupt - politicians who are not really serving the people. This leads to the reaction of: “I am not going to get involved, because what is the point?”
I think that is very unfortunate because we should have exactly the opposite reaction. We need to have people actually step up and go and run for office, donate to campaigns, and make sure they vote because now is when our voices are needed more than ever. So that is why I decided to run; I realized that instead of just looking at what is going on in politics and being sad about it, it’s important to step up and say that I am going to make a difference. That is how you motivate the community. That is how you mobilize people and change what is needed.
The thing about, folks like Trump and Republicans, today's Republican party, it is not just about the character of those in office, it is also about people trying to undermine democratic processes. What we saw on January 6th at the Capitol was quite unprecedented. It is really a battle between people who believe in the democratic system, the free exchange of ideas, and the power of a vote, versus those who believe in conspiracy theories and want to undermine the power of our vote.
Giorgi Shalamberidze: Ashwin, also, I wanted to ask you about the state of Georgia – as you already know, in the country of Georgia, we have a deep affinity towards state of Georgia for obvious reasons. I want to ask you about one main issue, what do you see now in the state of Georgia as the issue that you want to solve most?
Ashwin Ramaswami: I will give you two issues because there are so many issues, but two big ones. The first one is that Georgia is one of the only states in the country which hasn't yet expanded access to Medicaid. Medicaid gives access to healthcare for low-income people and almost every other state, including Republican states, has expanded access to it; but Georgia has not. And to me, this outcome is very interesting because there are so many reasons to expand it.
Medicaid expansion doesn't actually cost the state very much at all, relative to its impact. That would expand access for hundreds of thousands of Georgians to healthcare, and it is going to allow federal money to flow to Georgia as opposed to going to other states. But Republicans aren’t expanding it because Medicaid expansion is a program created under the Affordable Care Act, passed under a Democratic administration. I hope people look beyond the partisan boundaries to do the right thing.
The other issue is - what our future looks like, especially in the suburbs where I come from, because the reality is that our communities need young people in order to survive and thrive for the future. What we are seeing today is that our best and brightest are either leaving the suburbs to go to the cities or they're leaving the state to go elsewhere for other opportunities because we don't have access to things like safe and accessible transit; housing that works and we can actually afford; and access to reproductive rights or healthcare.
I hope that by being a young voice coming in and being a voice for these folks, these issues, I can help drive the needle on these issues, but also help modernize and make sure that we are ready for the future of Georgia with all the advances in technology that are changing our world.
Giorgi Shalamberidze: Ashwin, I am interested in your opinion about the geopolitical processes in the world and how you see the US's role in those processes.
Ashwin Ramaswami: I will caveat this by saying I am running for state senate. But I will say that the best way we as the United States can lead is by showing the rest of the world, that we practice what we preach and that if we are saying democracy is important, we need to engage our own communities in democracy. We need to make sure that our states can provide people with what they need, whether it is access to healthcare or access to jobs and a thriving economy.
We have to show the world that the American model works. I think what has happened in the past couple of years with Donald Trump has really added cracks to that idea. I want to be part of that movement showing that yes, we can persevere and we can show that we are able to actually do what is right and lead with courage, through our democratic system.
Giorgi Shalamberidze: Thank you very much. Ashwin. Last question. What would be your advice to representatives of Generation Z and generally, to the youth?
Ashwin Ramaswami: My advice would be - don't be afraid to take risks and talk to as many people as possible. I think those two things have helped me a lot. Too often people say “it’s not possible” - they don't even try. When I started to run for this race, initially, some people thought there was no point running, as they thought the race was unwinnable. But now after I started my campaign, many of those folks have changed their minds and have told me that I picked a good opportunity to make a difference. So sometimes, if everyone says something else, don't just believe it; you should look for yourself and make your own decisions because that can serve you well.
Just talking to people is so important because especially as someone young running for office, obviously, you have been in the workforce for fewer years. But as a young person, your strength is that you are able to listen and talk to people and be open and humble. That is the biggest asset, I would say that young people running for office have. I am able to go and talk to these folks and making sure I am listening to them, hearing their opinions, because that is ultimately the most important thing in a public servant. Experience is not an end in itself, and mere experience is not sufficient for a public servant: the ultimate end is that you are experienced enough so that you will listen to people and you know when to speak and when not to, and you know who to talk to make informed decisions. So that is my advice.
Giorgi Shalamberidze: Thank you so much. Such an inspirational interview. I want to wish you success, ahead of elections and in your career generally. I am very happy to know you personally and I am sure that you will achieve the best.
Ashwin Ramaswami: Thank you so much, Giorgi - it has been a pleasure knowing you for all these years too.