Just a month ago, Rini Sampath, a 2016 USC grad, had no plans to run for public office, despite her previous experience in USC’s Undergraduate Student Government. Then, a major snowstorm hit Washington, D.C. in early February, and changed that.
Sampath said she heard a wheelchair-bound resident testify at City Hall about being trapped in her home during the storm. When the woman called 311, no one answered.
“There’s no actual service delivery tracking,” or system to locate callers, “so this individual never got the care that they deserved in terms of actually leaving their home,” Sampath said.
Sampath said the storm was the catalyst that started her campaign.
“Seeing that the sidewalks were not passable, seeing that the trash hadn’t been picked up, these issues were just front and center,” Sampath said. “And when I started digging into who the current candidates in the race are, they really didn’t give me much confidence that they would be able to solve these problems with the level of creativity that’s necessary.”
Over the next few weeks, she built a campaign team and launched a website outlining her platform.
“I am saying the absolute truth when it comes to this all happening in the span of three weeks or so,” Sampath said. The quick turnaround spoke to the “power of the community” she has, including that of the USC Trojans, she said
Some of the other mayoral candidates launched their campaigns a year ago. Janeese Lewis George, Kenyan McDuffie and Gary Goodweather are all running, along with four other candidates. The current mayor, Muriel Bowser, announced on Nov. 25, 2025, that she will not run for a fourth term.
Sampath’s platform focuses on issues that can be addressed at the municipal level. That includes fixing basic infrastructure, such as potholes and streetlights, improving emergency response services and cutting red tape for local businesses.
“[O]ne thing that’s very clear in D.C. is that the general population, while they’re really connected to the federal politics, were very disconnected from local politics because there have been so many failures over and over again,” she said.
A challenge, Sampath said, she will have to face is finding a way to appeal to voters who are not originally from Washington. Sampath was born in Theni, India, immigrated to the U.S. at seven, and has lived in several different states since. However, she has called Washington home for over a decade.
“One essential pitch that I have for the people of D.C. is, why not hire from the outside when it’s been evident that those on the inside are not able to fix this system?” she said.
Under the current mayoral administration, mass layoffs in the federal government — the city’s largest employer — have lowered the city’s revenue estimates by over $342 million annually.
Sampath, whose platform prioritizes the city’s high cost of living, said, “Residents in D.C., I’m hoping that they can see through the message that I’m delivering, that considering someone who may not be from here, but has the best interest of residents in mind is absolutely a worthwhile thing to do.”
Sampath’s political career started at USC, where she ran for student body president in 2015. It had been 10 years since a woman had run for a campus position. She and her running mate, Jordan Fowler, made history as the first women to occupy the top two student government positions at a Pac-12 school.
Sampath and Fowler implemented several initiatives that prioritize equity, diversity, and inclusion.
They hosted forums where students could speak about their experiences with bias and prejudices on campus. At the time, there was a nationwide wave of student-led activism centered on racial justice, institutional equity, and the political climate.
The first all-female presidential ticket also founded the Campus Climate Resolution, a $100 million fund allocated to support underrepresented students and faculty positions for underrepresented minorities.
“One thing I really appreciated about my time in student government was that it was a team sport,” Sampath said. “We had a team of 150, and we managed a $2 million budget, even as 20 to 21-year-olds. And so we had to be accountable to each other first and foremost.”
From advocating for Trojans to advocating for the people of Washington, D.C., Sampath continues to try to use her voice to help her community.
“I look forward to managing an effective team and really coaching the team to understand that this is a team sport, and if we’re going to fix the basics like the potholes or the street lights that I’m talking about, or increasing grocery store access, we cannot do that if we’re not willing to play on the same team,” Sampath said. “And that just takes a level of creativity and accountability that I really think my team back in the USG days were able to do.”
She joins a long list of USC alums who have run for mayor, including Robert Garcia for Long Beach Mayor, Tara Campbell for Yorba Linda Mayor, Michael Tubbs for Stockton Mayor, Steven Bilderain for Twentynine Palms Mayor and Rick Caruso for Los Angeles Mayor.
The Washington D.C. mayoral election will be held on Nov. 3, 2026. The primary elections to select party nominees will be held on June 16, 2026.