Syrabi Nur Rahman and Diane Kim won the Undergraduate Student Government presidential and vice presidential race Tuesday night with 2,147 votes.
The duo centered their campaign around the concept of “Ask. Listen. Act.,” according to their campaign platform.
After Tuesday’s meeting was adjourned, attendees surrounded Rahman and Kim as cheers echoed throughout the room. The two were embraced by friends, other USG members and fellow candidates.
“I’m so proud of us and our campaign team and our community,” said Rahman. “The fact that our community has been there for us the way that they have has meant the most in the world for us.”
Rahman and Kim’s platform prioritized improving affordability for students. During an interview with Annenberg Media, the pair said they aim to establish a partnership between Grubhub and USC Dining to allow students to spend their dining dollars on food pickup and delivery, register for free LinkedIn Premium and Canva Pro accounts and partner with ZipCar to offer free membership or discounted fees.
“So much love has been put into this campaign, and to see it be formed now, I’m just excited to start working,” said Kim. “It starts today, it starts as soon as we leave this room.”
Rahman-Kim both have prior experience working in USG. Rahman currently serves as Parliamentary Secretary, and Kim serves as Wellness Chair. Last year, Rahman served as the executive aide to the President and Kim as a Senate aide. Both said their experience would benefit them as President and Vice President.
The other tickets included Ben Huang and Wynn Hammond, Jad Kilani and Jeremiah Boisrond, and Ava Schmidt and Preston Morley.
More students voted in this year’s election compared to the 2025 general election, with 21.6% of undergraduate students voting. This year’s election saw a 17.7% increase in votes cast, according to the Judicial Council.
More students voted in this year’s election compared to the 2025 general election. (Graphic by Andriana Yatsyshyn)
Election results were expected to be announced during last week’s USG meeting, but were postponed due to several election complaints received by the Judicial Council.
Voting ran from February 17 to February 22.
At the close of the voting process, an anonymous complaint from a student alleged that Senate candidate Noa Foruzanfar had violated the elections code. Foruzanfar was found not guilty of voting for herself on a student’s phone and submitting the ballot without the student’s consent, according to the Judicial Council’s ruling.
During the USG debate, another ticket accused the newly elected President and Vice President of misconduct, February 11.
A little over a week later, the Judicial Council found Rahman and Kim guilty of three election violations: campaigning on behalf of a ticket, improper use of a USG position to enhance a campaign and the use of a non-USC individual to create and distribute campaign content. Their campaign received a one-day suspension and was required to take down signage during that time.
USG uses ranked-choice voting, with students ranking presidential and vice presidential candidates from first to fourth choice. If no ticket receives 50% of the vote or more, the ticket with the fewest votes is eliminated, and the rest of the votes from that ticket are redistributed to the voters’ following choices.
In the final round, Rahman-Kim received 2,147 votes. The Huang-Hammond ticket received 1,357 votes, Kilani-Boisrond received 1,118 votes, and Schmidt-Morley received 9. An additional 68 votes were cast for other, non-eligible write-ins.
USG uses ranked-choice voting. In the final round, Rahman-Kim received 2,147 votes. (Courtesy of USC Undergraduate Student Government)
Twenty-one candidates ran for 12 open USG Senate positions.
Twenty-one candidates ran for 12 open USG Senate positions. (Graphic by Andriana Yatsyshyn)
The new senators are Foruzanfar, Kaylee Idrogo, Jasmine Liu, Sonali Gupta, Raquel N. Bell, Madison Troup, Leilani Akwue, Kevin Hoang, Zehran Muqtadir, Sudeepta Murthy, Piper Kujawa and Amy He.
This story was updated following the USG meeting to include reactions from the newly elected president and vice president.