Shiva Ayyadurai
Shiva Ayyadurai (Independent, No Party Affiliation) ran for election for President of the United States. Ayyadurai (independent) lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Ayyadurai (unenrolled) also ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Massachusetts. He did not appear on the ballot for the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Shiva Ayyadurai was born in Bombay, India. He earned a bachelor's degree, master's degree, and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986, 1990, and 2007, respectively. His professional experience includes working as a scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, owner of multiple businesses related to biological systems and computer science, author of 10 books, and university lecturer at MIT. Ayyadurai also worked for the U.S. Senate to deploy their email management infrastructure. He has served as a charter member with The Indus Entrepreneur (TIE), as a lifetime member with Tau Beta Pi, as a full member of Sigma Xi, as a member of Eta Kappa Nu, as a member of the Oxford-Cambridge Society, and as a student member of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES).
Elections
2024
Presidency
- See also: Presidential candidates, 2024
An election for president of the United States was held on November 5, 2024. Ayyadurai was on the ballot in the following states.
See also:
U.S. Senate
See also: United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 2024
General election
General election for U.S. Senate Massachusetts
Incumbent Elizabeth Warren defeated John Deaton in the general election for U.S. Senate Massachusetts on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Elizabeth Warren (D) | 59.8 | 2,041,693 | |
| John Deaton (R) | 40.0 | 1,365,445 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 6,221 | ||
| Total votes: 3,413,359 | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Shiva Ayyadurai (Unenrolled)
- Brandon James Griffin (Workers Party)
- Joseph Schena (Unenrolled)
- Louis Marino (L)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Massachusetts
Incumbent Elizabeth Warren advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Massachusetts on September 3, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Elizabeth Warren | 98.6 | 562,709 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.4 | 8,078 | ||
| Total votes: 570,787 | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Massachusetts
John Deaton defeated Robert Antonellis and Ian Cain in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Massachusetts on September 3, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | John Deaton | 64.5 | 136,773 | |
| Robert Antonellis | 25.9 | 54,940 | ||
| Ian Cain | 9.1 | 19,374 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 924 | ||
| Total votes: 212,011 | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Rebekah Etique (R)
- Zakhai Akiba (R)
- Aaron Packard (R)
- John Berman (R)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Ayyadurai in this election.
2022
See also: Massachusetts gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2022
General election
General election for Governor of Massachusetts
Maura Healey defeated Geoff Diehl and Kevin Reed in the general election for Governor of Massachusetts on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Maura Healey (D) | 63.7 | 1,584,403 | |
| Geoff Diehl (R) | 34.6 | 859,343 | ||
| Kevin Reed (L) | 1.6 | 39,244 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 2,806 | ||
| Total votes: 2,485,796 | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Dianna Ploss (Independent)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Governor of Massachusetts
Maura Healey defeated Sonia Chang-Diaz (Unofficially withdrew) in the Democratic primary for Governor of Massachusetts on September 6, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Maura Healey | 85.3 | 642,092 | |
| Sonia Chang-Diaz (Unofficially withdrew) | 14.4 | 108,574 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 1,972 | ||
| Total votes: 752,638 | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Benjamin Downing (D)
- Josh Caldwell (D)
- Danielle Allen (D)
- Orlando Silva (D)
- Scott Donohue (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Governor of Massachusetts
Geoff Diehl defeated Chris Doughty in the Republican primary for Governor of Massachusetts on September 6, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Geoff Diehl | 55.3 | 149,800 | |
| Chris Doughty | 44.4 | 120,418 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 769 | ||
| Total votes: 270,987 | ||||
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2020
See also: United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 2020
United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 2020 (September 1 Democratic primary)
United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 2020 (September 1 Republican primary)
General election
General election for U.S. Senate Massachusetts
Incumbent Edward J. Markey defeated Kevin O'Connor and Shiva Ayyadurai in the general election for U.S. Senate Massachusetts on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Edward J. Markey (D) | 66.2 | 2,357,809 | |
| Kevin O'Connor (R) | 33.0 | 1,177,765 | ||
| Shiva Ayyadurai (R) (Write-in) | 0.6 | 21,134 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 7,428 | ||
| Total votes: 3,564,136 | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Frederick Mayock (Independent)
- Andre Gray (G)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Massachusetts
Incumbent Edward J. Markey defeated Joseph Kennedy III in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Massachusetts on September 1, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Edward J. Markey | 55.4 | 782,694 | |
| Joseph Kennedy III | 44.5 | 629,359 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 1,935 | ||
| Total votes: 1,413,988 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Massachusetts
Kevin O'Connor defeated Shiva Ayyadurai in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Massachusetts on September 1, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Kevin O'Connor | 59.7 | 158,590 | |
| Shiva Ayyadurai | 39.4 | 104,782 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.8 | 2,245 | ||
| Total votes: 265,617 | ||||
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Libertarian primary election
No Libertarians filed for this race. Vermin Supreme ran as a write-in and received 27 votes. He did not receive enough votes to make the general election ballot.
2018
General election
General election for U.S. Senate Massachusetts
Incumbent Elizabeth Warren defeated Geoff Diehl and Shiva Ayyadurai in the general election for U.S. Senate Massachusetts on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Elizabeth Warren (D) | 60.3 | 1,633,371 | |
| Geoff Diehl (R) | 36.2 | 979,210 | ||
| Shiva Ayyadurai (Independent) | 3.4 | 91,710 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 2,799 | ||
| Total votes: 2,707,090 (100.00% precincts reporting) | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Allen Waters (Independent)
- Joshua Ford (Independent)
- John Devine (Independent)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Massachusetts
Incumbent Elizabeth Warren advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Massachusetts on September 4, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Elizabeth Warren | 100.0 | 591,038 | |
| Total votes: 591,038 | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Massachusetts
Geoff Diehl defeated John Kingston and Beth Lindstrom in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Massachusetts on September 4, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Geoff Diehl | 55.3 | 144,043 | |
| John Kingston | 26.7 | 69,636 | ||
| Beth Lindstrom | 17.9 | 46,693 | ||
| Total votes: 260,372 | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Darius Mitchell (R)
- Heidi Wellman (R)
- Allen Waters (R)
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Shiva Ayyadurai did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
has not yet completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.
Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?
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2020
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released August 11, 2020 |
Shiva Ayyadurai completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ayyadurai's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
I am the Inventor of Email, hold 4 degrees from MIT including a Doctorate in Systems Biology, and am a Fulbright Scholar. I have started 7 successful hi-tech companies including EchoMail, CytoSolve, Systems Health and Center for Integrative Systems.
The Founding Fathers created a revolutionary nation in which innovation, education, creativity, and meritocracy flourished. Those core values drew my family to immigrate to the United States, and I'll always be grateful for the opportunities I've found here. Now I'm committed to preserving, protecting, and expanding those opportunities for the citizens of Massachusetts and for all Americans. That's the new American Revolution, and I hope you'll join me in this fight.- Digital Rights - Ensure every American has freedom in the digital world by ensuring the US Postal service provides digital infrastructure for universal access without censorship.
- Citizen Science - Academia has been compromised by pay-to-play science. The only way out is to ensure all citizens have access to research data that is federally funded by our tax dollars.
- Health Rights - The government should not be involved in mandating any medicine or protocol for any individual. The sovereignty of the patient-practitioner relationship must be supreme in ensuring the patient receives the right medicine at the right time.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Shiva Ayyadurai completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ayyadurai's responses.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
1. CLEAN GOVERNMENT: I believe in a government that facilitates the life you deserve and is built on this fundamental principle: For You, By You. Today the life you live is governed by self-serving silos of centralized government, economy, and health, which are designed For the Establishment, By the Establishment. But the life you deserve will emerge when you have a personalized and decentralized government, economy, and health that is For the People, By the People. And that can only emerge when you Declare Your Independence from the duopoly of Democrats and Republicans. 2. REAL HEALTH: I would focus on three elements: 1) LOWERING THE COST of healthcare by eliminating kickbacks driven by group purchasing organizations (GPOs)/pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) -- middlemen who monopolize the supply chain and in aggregate have increased costs by a quarter of a trillion dollars; 2) Enabling innovation in drug development, which I know intimately. My company CytoSolve has a powerful technology to develop medicines faster and cheaper by modeling diseases using computational methods; and, 3) Incentivizing prevention and the eating of healthy food, including enacting policies to ensure our food supply is safe and not ridden with pesticides or genetic modifications that have evaded safety assessments. Health is a complex systems problem, and solutions to complex systems problems deserve a multi-pronged approach. My solution can bring down the cost of healthcare, currently at $10,000 per worker, to $2,500 per worker. 3. REAL JOBS: In Massachusetts, for every 17 skilled job openings there is only one person skilled enough to fill the job. The way to address and truly fight inequality is by unleashing vo-tech schools in underserved areas to create more plumbers, electricians, and engineers. And beyond just Silicon Valley or Kendall Square, let's create 21st century jobs that take advantage of the incredible advances in science, engineering, medicine, and the long-awaited return of manufacturing and fair trade practices.
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
I embody the spirit of America. I came to America in 1970 from India, where we were considered low-caste "Untouchables," or Deplorables. My grandmother, who influenced me greatly, was a village healer. My journey to America involved immigration, education and innovation. I went through the public school system in New Jersey, where I mowed lawns, played baseball, and excelled in school. In New Jersey I invented the world's first email system, when I wrote 50,000 lines of software code to convert the old-fashioned interoffice mail system (inbox, outbox, attachments, memo, etc.) to its electronic equivalent. I named it "email" and received the first U.S. Copyright for Email, at a time when Copyright was the only way to protect software inventions. I went on to MIT to earn four degrees, including my PhD in systems biology -- which allowed me, via a Fulbright Scholarship, to integrate my training in systems biology with the traditional medicine of my grandmother. Since coming to America, I have started seven companies and created jobs across Massachusetts. Given my background, I am passionate about innovation, health care, education, and complex systems thinking in governance. And I am one of you -- a hard worker, inventor, entrepreneur, problem solver and American. It's time we elected one of US to create the life we deserve.
What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?
The Founders of this great country were soldiers, farmers, engineers, plumbers, blacksmiths, etc. They were not career politicians or lawyer-lobbyists -- they had skills and solved problems. Politicians and lawyers' business model is to never solve problems. In fact, they make more money the longer a problem is NOT solved. That's why I would support term limits for all elected officials.
What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?
I have a proven track record of understanding problems, and actually solving problems. I have four degrees from MIT, including my PhD. I have been a serial entrepreneur, starting multiple and successful high-tech companies. Most importantly, I have been a political activist throughout my life. I fought to secure workers' rights at MIT, including poor black and white people. I burned the South African flag to protest MIT's investments there during Apartheid. I protested against the War in Iraq. I have a unique talent stack of education, complex systems thinking, entrepreneurship, and political activism that makes me well qualified to be a U.S. Senator for the the 21st century.
What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?
Solve problems in a decentralized, self-organizing matter that democratizes power within the people. This means I would encourage free speech and discourse among the people.
What legacy would you like to leave?
Innovation doesn't come from a centralized, fragile military-academic-industrial complex; it comes from everyday people coming up with antifragile ways to improve the lives of each other. And my election to the U.S. Senate means that any hard working, everyday American like me can and should serve in public office and then return to their private lives and family.
What qualities does the U.S. Senate possess that makes it unique as an institution?
The ability to serve a 6-year term. Six years is enough to effect real change in our body politic.
Do you believe that it’s beneficial for senators to have previous experience in government or politics?
It is important for senators to have skills and be activists in politics, but it is absolutely unimportant for senators to be career politicians and lawyer-lobbyists.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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