Political potties: Meet the congressional staffer on a quest to rate every Capitol bathroom

WASHINGTON (CN) — Members of Congress can't agree on much, but they all need to use the bathroom — and when nature calls, they can rely on Symphony Rojas' bathroom reviews to find the best places for sweet relief on Capitol Hill.

A congressional staffer, Rojas has for nearly a year documented commodes across the Capitol complex — a practice she said began during her time working in the Texas Legislature and which has its roots in what she called a lifelong "obsession" with well-appointed bathrooms.

There are dozens of lavatories in the Capitol complex, which includes the central building and an array of House and Senate office buildings that dot the campus. The Capitol's visitor center alone has 26 restrooms.

And since last summer, Rojas has been on a quest to rate them all.

Under the pithy social media handle "Drain the Swamp Toilets," she's posted reviews of a half dozen lavatories in the House office buildings, the Capitol complex and even one private bathroom in the Commerce Department. But her restroom ratings gained newfound notoriety this week after she made her formal debut on X, posting her take on the little-known and long defunct granite bathtubs buried beneath the Senate chamber.

The attention is fun, Rojas said, but fame is not her goal in documenting the Hill's bathroom situation. Nor is she attempting to show a different side of Congress at a time when the average American has a deeply negative view of the federal legislature.

"This is our Capitol, and there are cool bathrooms," she said. "It's just about finding those little, everyday tidbits — how can I make my day just a little bit more fun?"

Courthouse News sat down with Rojas to discuss "Drain the Swamp Toilets" — how she got started, her bathroom cred, and the best restrooms across the Capitol complex.

You've been a staffer on the Hill for three years, which is plenty of time to get familiar with the bathroom situation here. What inspired you to start rating them?

As we know, around the building it's kind of hard to find peace and quiet sometimes. Whether or not you're using the bathroom, there are a lot of things going on around the Hill.

I also weirdly have an obsession with bathrooms. It's been a thing since I was younger. I would need to go into every single establishment's bathroom to see the décor, what it looked like. I thought it would be funny to do that with Hill bathrooms.

I used to work in the Texas state Legislature, and I'd also cover the bathrooms there a little bit, but I stopped. Then one day my friend randomly said I should take up that account again, so I did.

So, your interest in bathrooms has been a longstanding thing?

Yeah, it's been a thing of mine since I was probably seven years old. Some bathrooms are cooler than others. You know when you walk in that it's a cool bathroom: sometimes they have sitting areas — and obviously I only know girls' bathrooms, but a cool bathroom might have a "get ready with me" area. Sometimes there's cool décor in there, maybe apartment décor.

You sort of alluded to this already, but do you feel like among Hill staff there's a lack of knowledge about bathrooms and where is best to go when you need one? Do you feel like people fall into routines?

People definitely fall into routines. Some of the bathrooms that I've found, I'm like, 'oh wait, I've never noticed this door before. I wonder what that bathroom looks like.' It's just like that: I see a bathroom sign, and I'm really curious what that looks like.

You've just debuted your bathroom reviews on X this week, but have you been at this longer?

I only recently transitioned to X — I also have an Instagram where I've done all the House office buildings. I've done one Capitol bathroom and I think two in Longworth [House Office Building], but there are several other videos I haven't transitioned.

I started up in August. On Instagram, my followers are mostly Capitol Hill staffers and a lot of my friends as well. It just pops up on their pages. In the beginning, I was really steamrolling, because I started during congressional recess. Things picked up again during the government shutdown. But usually, I do reviews on recess weeks when things are a bit slower on the Hill.

When you set out to rate a bathroom, are you working with a list of criteria? Or are you just going off vibes?

It's pure vibes. Again, some bathrooms are just inherently cooler than others.

One criteria I always love, though, is if there's a full-length body mirror in there for the women's bathrooms. There's also that age-old argument about American bathrooms, that they have that large gap in between stalls whereas bathrooms overseas don't have a gap at all. Some bathrooms on the Hill don't have a gap, and others have way larger gaps.

It's like "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." What are you walking into when you see a bathroom on the Hill?

So, it's not like you go in there with a checklist of what makes a good bathroom.

I just walk in there, and it's clear right off the bat if it's a cool bathroom. There are lots of differences in Hill bathrooms — there's this one down the hall from the Longworth cafeteria, which is extremely small, but the walls in there are pink and the floor looks cool.

Most of the time, I keep a mic on me, so reviews really happen in the spur of the moment. It takes just five minutes to shoot a review and probably 20 minutes to edit it. So really, it's like a bathroom break.

Of the bathrooms you've reviewed so far, which was the best?

The ones in the Cannon [House Office Building] basement. They're scattered all over, they've got showers and lockers and everything like that.

There's a lot of history in the Capitol complex. Lots of these buildings — and the bathrooms inside them — are decades if not a century old. Have you learned anything about the history of some of these restrooms, or is that not the focus for you?

When I reviewed the bathrooms in the Senate baths, I definitely wanted to read up more on that. I started as an intern here, and everybody always hears about the mysterious Senate bathtubs. That one was more historical, but the Cannon ones weren't.

Honestly, it really is pure vibes. The history would be cool, but there's not much history in bathrooms. I do know that, whenever a member of Congress gets a new office, they also get a full background on members that were in that office before, but the public bathrooms don't have that same type of background.

We're in this moment where people feel like Congress is out of step with the average American. Confidence in lawmakers is at an all-time low. Do you feel like this project is a way to humanize politics for people? Or is it not that deep?

Possibly. But really, I'm a Hill staffer with a bathroom obsession. This is our Capitol, and there are cool bathrooms. It's just about finding those little everyday tidbits — how can I make my day just a little bit more fun?

A lot of Hill staffers just fall into a routine. Things don't have to be boring. You can find a new bathroom.

But would you be happy to see your content "break containment" to non-Capitol audiences? Would it be helpful for the average person to see the day-to-day aspects of working on the Hill?

It would be nice if other people took hold of that. To be frank, content is made for a certain audience. My audience is Hill people and Hill-adjacent people. But if other people off the hill see these reviews and are like, 'wait, that's hilarious, I didn't know that,' that's awesome.

It's really just a fun thing. Nothing too serious.

You've gotten some attention on X in the last day or so. What's the response been so far? Are people engaging with your bathroom ratings in a positive way?

I think it's positive. I think it's funny, and other people think it's funny.

I had this one interaction: I was out on a Saturday in September, and this guy was looking at me, which was weird. I'm talking to my friend, and then he interrupts me and says, 'I have to ask, are you the bathroom girl on Instagram?'

I said, 'yeah, I think bathrooms are awesome.' He asked me about the bathrooms where we were and whether I was going to film that day. He was pumped about it, but his girlfriend was eyeballing him the whole time.

People send me links, or they want to tag along for the ride. Everybody thinks it's funny. I'm not trying to be funny, though — bathrooms are just inherently funny.

Which bathroom on the Hill is your white whale — the most elusive review?

That's a great question. I want to see Leader Thune's private bathroom. He must have a sick private bathroom.