Ashwin Ramaswamy, the first Gen-Z Indian-American candidate to contest for a US state legislature, has been endorsed by US Senator Jon Ossoff for a Georgia state Senate seat.
24-year-old Ramaswami is contesting from the Democratic Party for the State Senate in District 48 of the US state of Georgia.
The endorsement is seen as a major boost for his first campaign against Republican incumbent state Senator Sean Steil, who has been accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
Still was convicted along with former President Donald Trump for inciting the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“Ashwin Ramaswamy will be a tireless advocate for democracy and the people of his constituency in the Georgia State Senate,” said Senator Ossoff.
He said, “The contrast couldn’t be more stark: Ashwin is a former election security expert, and he’s running against a MAGA (Make American Great Again) politician who is accused of participating in an effort to steal the 2020 election when Raphael Warnock and I were on the ballot.”
“It’s no exaggeration to say that the issue of democracy is at the forefront of Senate District 48,” Ossoff said. “We need Ashwin in the State Senate – and I am proud to stand behind him in this race.”
Thanking the senator for his support, Ramaswamy said, “From upgrading Georgia’s billions of dollars in infrastructure to tackling climate change and strengthening our cybersecurity — Senator Ossoff has been a champion for Georgia.” “But these successes only last so long until they are destroyed by far-right Republicans like my opponent at the state level,” he added.
“I’m grateful to have Senator Ossoff’s support, and I look forward to working with him in the fight to expand access to health care, invest in housing options, and protect our elections from extremists who seek to undermine them,” he said.
Senator Ossoff is a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC), which oversees the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Ramaswami left his election security job at CISA to run against Still.
He has raised more money than his opponent, putting more than $280,000 into his grassroots campaign, according to the latest financial reports.
Ramaswamy graduated from Georgetown University in May. If elected, he would be the youngest ever elected representative in the state of Georgia and the first Indian American to win the position in Georgia.
Ramaswamy’s parents immigrated to the US from Tamil Nadu in 1990. Generation Z (also known as Zoomers) includes people born between 1997 and 2012.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)