Rini Sampath, a 2016 USC grad, remembers various instances of inequity she tried to solve as Undergraduate Student Government president. 

Between talking to students who were facing accessibility struggles to trying to help students in need of tuition assistance, from her time at USC, Sampath said she learned what leadership is really about: “figur[ing] out how you can actually solve a problem meaningfully substantively.” 

Now, Sampath is taking these lessons with her into a future of leadership. Sampath announced her candidacy in Washington, D.C.’s mayoral race in February as a Democrat. She said she did so because she noticed that city services weren’t working the way they are supposed to. 

“I love the city. I’ve lived in D.C. for 10 years … and I wanted to make this city work better,” Sampath said. “That’s fundamentally the reason I got into this race. I noticed that basic city services are not functioning at this moment, a lot of that came to light even more visibly during the January snowstorms here in D.C., where many of our city government functions were fully shut down.” 

This year, Washington faced a consolidated six to nine inches of snow. Sampath testified to the Department of Public Works on Feb. 12 about struggles caused by the storm. While there, she said she also heard testimony from a resident who was unable to leave their home for more than two weeks because of the snow. 

“That’s just a massive failure of the city government,” Sampath said. “Right now, we have two front runners who are longtime City Hall insiders asking for a promotion when they haven’t fulfilled the basic functions of their job. So my pitch to Washington, D.C., residents is [that] it’s time for change. It’s time for a new generation to lead, and it’s time for an outsider who’s relentlessly focused on making the city better.” 

As of Feb. 26, 23 individuals, including Sampath, have announced their candidacy to be the district’s mayor. The current two frontrunners are former councilmember Kenyan McDuffie and Janeese Lewis George, a current councilmember. 

Though this will be Sampath’s first time running for public office, 11 years ago, she was running a different campaign: one for USG presidency. Sampath’s ticket was the first all-woman ticket to win, and while in office, they were responsible for hosting USC’s first-ever wheelchair basketball tournament, as well as advocating for what is now USC’s Race and Equity Center.

“All of those things that I worked on when I was in college have shaped my vision for just how society should function, and that’s you catering to every single person, regardless of who they are or where they come from,” Sampath said. “My slogan from college was ‘real results,’ and that is essentially the ethos of this campaign too.”

Just like Sampath sees similarities between her USG campaigning and her candidacy now, so too does USC professor Dan Schnur, who teaches classes in politics, communications and leadership and is working as an “informal advisor” of Sampath’s campaign. 

“A lot of people who didn’t know [Sampath] dismissed her chances when she ran here, and a lot of people who don’t know any better are dismissing her chances now,” Schnur said. “In both cases, it’s because they were accustomed to more traditional types of candidates. In the first case, they learned their lesson. We’ll see if they learn again.” 

During her campaign so far, Sampath said she has enjoyed hearing residents’ firsthand experiences and is using theirt stories to drive the changes she plans to make. However, Sampath has struggled, particularly considering this is her first campaign. 

“I am coming into this race as a political outsider,” Sampath said. “Student government politics and municipal politics are very different, and so it has been a huge learning curve.” 

While Sampath sees her status as an outsider as a weakness, Schnur sees this as a potential strength for Sampath. According to him, Washington is known for having a particularly “dysfunctional city government,” so the prospect of replacing its long-time mayor with another government official is not exciting, he said.

“Her greatest strength is that she hasn’t run for office before,” Schnur said. “If Rini can get her message heard by those voters, she’s in an ideal position to point to a different path forward.” 

The district’s Mayoral Primary Election is set for June 16. Before then, Sampath is excited to continue as a candidate, and if elected, hopes to work toward a better future for Washington residents. 

“I want to see the city fix the basics; That’s the entire premise of the campaign,” Sampath said. “I want my neighbors and my friends and my community to live a happy, prosperous life, and none of that can happen if we don’t take care of the foundational promises of the municipal government. My vision is a D.C. that actually works. And right now this one doesn’t.” 

Disclaimer: Rini Sampath formerly served as Editorial Director at the Daily Trojan in Fall 2013.