McCormick junior James La Fayette Jr. and Weinberg sophomore Jamal Omoniyi won the Associated Student Government presidential election and will serve as the next ASG co-presidents.
There were 1,836 student votes cast, a 54.5% increase from the 1,188 total voters in the 2024 ASG presidential election. The voting was based on a ranked-choice system.
La Fayette Jr. said the election was “very tedious,” especially while balancing homework and studying for midterms. He added that this year’s election was more challenging due to the larger number of candidates.
Four candidate teams ran this election cycle — a number not seen since the 2013 ASG presidential election. It has typically ranged from one to two.
La Fayette Jr. and Omoniyi credited their campaign’s success to the structure and support of their campaign team, particularly the ambassadors they had representing each NU school. La Fayette Jr. added that what ultimately pushed him to run for president was this support.
“I’m not running just because I want to be president, but because I truly feel like I can help serve these student groups who have reached out to me,” La Fayette Jr. said. “Getting that on-the-ground support from day one was really helpful.”
The two also stressed the importance of working with groups that supported them, as well as those that endorsed other candidates, to foster meaningful change on campus and strengthen the connection between ASG and these groups.
In discussing his vision for a more connected and approachable administration, Omoniyi also shared his plans for promoting better communication with the student body to ensure anyone can approach leadership with questions about ASG, the presidency or to voice their concerns.
“One of the big weaknesses of ASG (is) people don’t know their senators. They barely know their presidents,” Omoniyi said. “Because of that, we’re not really useful if we’re not getting their ideas and their input.”
La Fayette Jr. and Omoniyi expressed their gratitude to the other candidates for their contributions to the election.
The pair invited them to the table to talk about their ideas in order to best serve them and their communities in this next administration, La Fayette Jr. said.
“The ideas that candidates came in with were very valuable, and they resonated with the student body,” La Fayette Jr. said. “I don’t think that those ideas should be left at the door or die with this election.”
SESP sophomore and Election Commissioner Eliza Marcus reported to The Daily that multiple candidate teams received campaign violations during this election, which prevented them from campaigning before the official campaigning period ended. However, she said a majority of these allegations were “found to be fabricated.”
Marcus noted that the election became highly competitive and “boundaries were pushed.” Looking ahead to future elections, she emphasized the need to address ambiguity in the guidelines, adding that there was confusion among candidates regarding aspects like ranked-choice voting and definitions of harassment or bribery.
Still, Marcus said she hopes several goals will be accomplished with the new presidency.
“I hope to see the promises that were talked about during the debate come to fruition and really a more active student body-ASG relationship,” Marcus said. “I really hope that the students are able to really have a clear view of what’s going on in their administration and feel included and heard.”
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