After two weeks of contentious campaigning, all that was left for Associated Student Government presidential candidates Mike McGee and Bill Pulte at 7 p.m. Friday was to await the runoff election results. Pulte withdrew into his room in Pi Kappa Alpha with friends and campaign members, while McGee sat surrounded by supporters in the Public Affairs Residential College library.

The election led to a runoff after neither candidate won a majority in Wednesday’s ASG election. In the first election, Pulte won 48.6 percent of the vote and McGee won 47.9 percent.

In PARC, supporters quieted themselves to listen to McGee receive a phone call from Paul David Shrader, ASG election commissioner and Weinberg senior. When McGee told the cramped room he won with 60 percent of the vote, the crowd erupted with yells and screams. The Communication junior said he had to deal with revelers right next to him as well as an onslaught of friends and supporters calling to congratulate him.

“It was craziness,” McGee said. “My phone almost blew up.” McGee’s margin came out of 4,292 total votes – 2,526 votes for McGee and 1,684 for Pulte with 82 abstentions.

Little reaction to the result could be heard outside Pulte’s room in Pike – when campaign staffers exited the room, they were somber. Pulte said he was “saddened” he will not have the opportunity to lead ASG.

“I did indeed feel like I was the best candidate for the job,” the Medill junior said. “I was looking forward to helping the student body. I hope Mike and Tommy can do things that will help the daily lives of students.”

Pulte’s running mate Patrick Dawson said he found the vote difference staggering.

“Clearly I’m disappointed,” the Weinberg junior said. “I am interested in the fact that there was such a huge drop-off in such a short time.”

Meanwhile, McGee campaign manager Miles Drummond said the lack of swing voters was responsible for McGee’s large margin of victory.

“Our supporters were aware of Mike and Tommy’s work on campus,” the Communication junior said. “We didn’t have to coerce them to vote.”

The fallout from Academic Director-elect and McGee supporter Mohammad Safdari’s controversial e-mail was a key issue Friday. The e-mail attacked the Pulte-Dawson campaign with a number of questionable charges. McGee’s campaign circulated an official statement Friday calling the Weinberg junior’s e-mail a “bad decision based on false assumptions” and asked voters to focus on the issues.

Vice President-elect Tommy Smithburg said campaign organizers urged supporters not to lash out at the Pulte campaign after the election commission levied sanctions against the McGee campaign. Pulte successfully lobbied the commission to add a statement to the ballot detailing the lack of evidence behind Safdari’s claims.

“Everyone wanted to fight back,” the Weinberg junior said. “There were genuine people who pulled us back and kept us on message.”

Jon Green, who received Safdari’s e-mail, said it led to a “backlash” against Pulte. He said he doubts either of the campaigns intentionally acted in violation of the election commission’s rules.

“I think that’s unfortunate,” the Weinberg sophomore said. “It’s not necessary. It’s a student government election – people take things too seriously sometimes.”

McGee did not mention Safdari’s e-mail as a factor between his narrow loss Wednesday and major victory Friday. Instead, he cited his voters’ loyalty as well as the delayed effect of the endorsements his campaign had collected.

When asked about the hostile tone of campaigning, McGee avoided talking about its impact on the election. He said he would make an effort to get students to put the campaign behind them and focus on their motives for being involved.

“Why did you want people to be elected? Why do you want to improve the quality of student life at Northwestern?” McGee asked rhetorically. “If you want to change that, to improve that – we’re going to have a very successful year.”

McGee said his first priorities would be working with a variety of student groups to solve chief problems, such as sustainability.

Outgoing ASG President Neal Sales-Griffin said he’d be working with McGee in the next week to transition the office.

“We’re in good hands,” the SESP senior said. “We’ve spent more nights in the ASG office than any duo I know.”

McGee added there was also more celebration with his friends and supporters in store.

“We worked really hard on this,” he said “We definitely want to give it a few days.”

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Related:The Daily’s ASG blog