A 20-year-old University of Maryland student is vying to become his school’s first undergraduate to serve on the College Park City Council.

Gannon Sprinkle, a junior government and politics major originally from Pittsburgh, is a candidate in College Park’s District 3 special nonpartisan election, which is scheduled for March 11. The seat became vacant upon Councilman Stuart Adams’ resignation on Jan. 8.

“As a 20-year-old, what I do hope to do is set a standard,” Sprinkle said. “It seems bold, a little bit far-reaching, to say that I might want to become a role model, but I hope many my age run for public office and make their voice known.”

President Donald Trump’s first election spurred Sprinkle’s interest in politics, and he already has some government experience on his resume.

“I saw first-hand the impacts that his policies had on my peers,” Sprinkle said of Trump.

From June 2023 to May 2024, Sprinkle served as UMD’s student liaison to the council he seeks to join, and he is now the executive vice president of UMD’s Student Government Association. Sprinkle has also worked as a student with the Maryland General Assembly and Prince George’s County Council.

College Park City Council Member John Rigg, who also represents District 3 and served alongside Adams, said he would consider Sprinkle a “serious candidate” for office. He described him as a “really thoughtful guy” who actively participated in important discussions during his student liaison tenure.

“For the record, I think Mr. Sprinkle’s a serious candidate. I would not say that about some of the past student candidates,” Rigg said.

According to College Park City Clerk Yvette Allen, UMD undergrads have run for the council multiple times but have never been elected. Grad student Marcus Afzali was elected in 2009 and narrowly lost his re-election bid in 2011.

Allen noted that, despite publicly declaring himself as a candidate, Sprinkle has not yet submitted the required candidate forms ahead of the city’s Wednesday, Feb. 5, deadline. Sprinkle says he has obtained enough signatures from District 3 residents to get on the ballot and plans to file his candidacy with the city on Friday.

While no other candidates had formally entered the District 3 race as of Wednesday evening, Rigg does not expect Sprinkle to run unopposed.

“I predict that there will be at least two, perhaps as many as four or five candidates,” Rigg said of the District 3 race, noting there is still nearly a week until the filing deadline.

In College Park, Sprinkle says he plans to address housing issues and work to bridge the divide between UMD students and longtime residents. Tenants’ rights are a big priority for Sprinkle, who hopes to follow the example of another Big Ten college town — Ann Arbor, Michigan — by enacting an early lease ordinance. In Ann Arbor, this ordinance requires landlords to notify tenants of the terms and conditions for a new lease at least 180 days before the end of a current lease.

A statement from Sprinkle’s campaign manager, 2023-24 UMD deputy student liaison Dhruvak Mirani, touts the candidate’s work as student liaison in helping to develop a “first-of-its-kind housing assistance program” designed to subsidize College Park housing for low-income students.

Sprinkle told The Sun he is passionate about representation for “all of us” in College Park. He says some challenges he and Mirani faced in dealing with the City Council compelled him to run for office.

“The divide in the city of College Park is something that Dhruvak and I experienced first-hand as we worked as student liaisons,” Sprinkle said. “Sometimes, the experience that we faced left us and other students that we talked to with a sour taste in their mouth.”

Rigg believes Sprinkle was referring to debates surrounding the scope of the city’s role of providing affordable housing for students. These debates often featured Adams and the UMD students on one side and other council members on the other, according to Rigg.

“I would not characterize the overall relationship last council session between the student liaisons and the council as in any way really fraught, apart from a few issues [on] which there were differences,” Rigg said.

To address divides in the community, Sprinkle says he has been building relationships with residents by knocking on doors and attending meetings with local homeowners’ associations. He said it would be an honor to become its first undergraduate member.

“At the end of the day, it’s about representing all of the District 3 community; it’s about representing all the long-term residents, all the student residents,” he said.

If elected in March, Sprinkle would serve the remainder of Adams’ term until a regular election is held in November. Sprinkle says he intends to run for a full two-year term as a college senior in the fall.

Have a news tip? Contact Carson Swick at cswick@baltsun.com.