Rini Sampath, a 31-year-old Indian-American originally from Theni, Tamil Nadu, is running as a Democratic candidate in Washington, D.C.’s 2026 mayoral race. A government contractor and cybersecurity professional, she is the first South Asian to appear on the city’s mayoral primary ballot.
Sampath moved to the United States at age seven and has lived in Washington, D.C. for more than a decade. She studied at the University of Southern California and drew national attention as student body president in 2015 for her advocacy on campus safety, diversity, student rights and for speaking out against racism and harassment.
Positioning herself as a political outsider, Sampath centers her campaign on the slogan Fix the Basics and focuses on everyday city services. Her platform calls for repairing roads and potholes, stopping catastrophic wastewater spills into the Potomac, lowering the cost of living and improving emergency services, including reducing 911 response times. She has criticized current city leadership for failing to deliver these basic services, pointing to slow or inadequate responses to snowstorms and infrastructure breakdowns as a key reason for running.
Sampath says her priority as mayor would be ensuring the city meets its basic commitments to residents: fill potholes, stop wastewater pollution, lower prices and improve emergency response times.
Washington, D.C. is overwhelmingly Democratic and has not elected a Republican mayor since the modern elected-mayor system began in 1975. The District is governed by a popularly elected mayor and a 13-member Council.
The Democratic primary is scheduled for June 16, 2026, with the general election on November 3, 2026. Other candidates in the mayoral contest include Janeese Lewis George, Kenyan McDuffie, Gary Goodweather, Robert L. Gross and Rhonda Hamilton.
