A Georgia Democrat seeks to unseat an indicted Trump elector who says he only did what he was told
DULUTH, Ga. — A young Georgia Democrat is raising money from voters across the country by framing a Senate race in an Atlanta suburb as a chance to defeat a Republican election-denier.
Although incumbent Shawn Still was one of the 18 people accused Still says candidate Ashwin Ramaswami, who ran alongside Donald Trump in Georgia’s Fulton County in 2023, is wrong to label him a partisan conspirator.
The race will not upset the comfortably gerrymandered 33-22 Republican majority in Georgia’s upper chamber. But as Democrats try to win over Republican voters in the Atlanta suburbs who have been repelling Trump and his crusade against the 2020 election results, the race will test whether they can replicate the gains made in statewide races in local elections.
While Vice President Kamala Harris has not put the fight against election denial at the forefront of her campaign, as President Joe Biden has, Democrats are still positioning themselves as defenders of democracy against Republican attacks.
Still one of the three was Trump voters charged with crimes in Fulton County, along with Trump, Rudy Giuliani and 14 other Trump associates. Prosecutors are calling the 16 Republicans who gathered at the Georgia Capitol in December 2020 “fake electors.”
Ramaswami, 25, a computer science major at Stanford University, was still in law school last year when he learned of Still’s role. The Democrat was working on a similar case in Wisconsin, he said, and recognized the name of his hometown senator in testimony before the House Committee January 6.
“There is a pattern where Shawn Still is really trying to undermine our voices, both Democratic and Republican,” Ramaswami said.
According to Still, Ramaswami wrongly portrays him as an anti-democratic extremist.
“I think that’s the only thing he can run on. So he’s going to hit me in the face with that one thing,” Still said. “It’s no use.”
The district is drawn to be Republican, and stretches across Atlanta’s northern suburbs into Fulton, Forsyth and Gwinnett counties. But two years ago, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock won the district from Trump-aligned Herschel Walker even as voters backed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Still defeated his Democratic opponent by 14 points. Ramaswami hopes to emulate Warnock’s victory by swaying voters upset by Trump and believes he can connect with the district’s Indian population. The district’s population is more than 30% Asian, the highest percentage in Georgia.
Ramaswami’s campaign has raised more than $460,000, high for a legislative race, and has attracted many out-of-state donors. Still has raised just over $145,000, but Republican groups could potentially throw in more money if they believe Still is under threat.
Still was the secretary of Trump’s 2020 caucus, who signed and filed documents that prosecutors say were false. He says he acted on the advice of party officials and lawyers to preserve Trump’s legal options when a lawsuit challenged Georgia’s election results.
“I would describe my involvement as that of a good soldier who did what he was told and followed the advice of lawyers who do this for a living,” Still said.
Still Said said his involvement ended when he left the meeting.
“I build swimming pools for a living,” he said. “I don’t think anyone thought for half a second that I was a political mastermind who planned something that led to what happened.”
According to Ramaswami, Stills’ willingness to cooperate with his colleague’s illegal behavior made him a “useful idiot for the Republican Party.”
Ramaswami points to other actions Still took after the 2020 election, including a lawsuit he filed challenging the results in Georgia’s Coffee County just days before voters were due to convene. Ramaswami also says Still didn’t take enough responsibility in his testimony before the Jan. 6 committee.
If elected, the Democrat said he would pursue “common sense” solutions to issues such as gun violence, health care and abortion rights. One of his top priorities would be investing in education.
“We as a community need to invest in our future, not rehash the past,” Ramaswami said.
His cybersecurity internships under leaders of both parties would help him forge bipartisan relationships, Ramaswami said. He has interned in the office of Georgia’s Republican Attorney General Chris Carr and as an intern and part-time employee for the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, where he said he helped protect local election officials and small businesses from cyberattacks.
Still, at 51, he has been a reliable Republican voice during his first two-year term, but he says he has engaged with Democrats and shown a “desire and willingness to work with both sides of the political spectrum.” He has been reserved as a lawmaker, rarely stepping up to the microphone to score partisan points.
Still said his biggest accomplishment is a law that allows students to transfer to another public school district without permission from the district they’re leaving. That measure was tucked away in a bill whose most notable achievement was creating a $6,500 voucher for private school tuition and homeschooling. The first-term senator said he wants more time in office, in part to work on human trafficking issues.
Still, Ramaswami said he is “not at all” qualified to become a senator.
“He hasn’t lived in the district since he got out of high school. He has no life experience. He hasn’t done anything. His only jobs were internships. He hasn’t accomplished anything for himself.”
Even with Still’s experience, conservative voters have reservations. Bisvas Pokala, who works in information technology, leans Republican. But Still’s indictment leaves him undecided, with Pokala saying he’s “very concerned about it.”
Pokala was manning a booth at the Festival of India in suburban Duluth in July. Ramaswami walked through, chatting with vendors and shoppers. Many recognized Ramaswami and waved.
Salesman Ram Raju is a Democrat but said many Indians in the business world lean Republican and predicted Still would not be controversial enough to alienate party loyalists.
But Ramaswami says he can help voters of all backgrounds see through Still.
“The fact that Shawn Still is now trying to portray himself as a moderate and really distance himself from what’s going on is evidence that it’s something he wants to stay away from, and it’s something the voters don’t agree with,” Ramaswami said.
But Still has forged many connections. Dilip Mehra, a festival vendor and Still supporter, recalls appearing at an event his small company was hosting.
“He said, ‘If you have a problem, if your community has a problem, if you want help from us, please come to me,'” Mehra said. “He seemed like a very nice person.”
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Charlotte Kramon is a staff member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-reported issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon
Amy reported from Atlanta.