With the widest margin of victory since the Student Governing Association began posting election results online in 2000, Reagan Kays and Cody Kennedy were elected Wednesday to serve as the next student body president and vice president. The two received 2,251 votes, compared to the 367 tallied by Jarrett Romine and AJ Davis.
“We feel relieved, to be honest,” Kennedy, junior in secondary education and mathematics, said. “It’s definitely been a long process ever since October when Reagan and I first sat down and decided that we wanted to run together. The campaigning ended, but now the real part’s just starting.”
By securing 85.98 percent of the vote, Kays and Kennedy broke the record set by Nate Spriggs and Grant Hill, who won the election in 2012 with 71.37 percent of votes cast. Kays, senior in agribusiness, said he attributes the dominant win to the relevancy of their platform issues to the student body.
“It tells me the campus has bought into our ideas,” Kays said. “It sets Cody and I up for a great year of service to the student body that we’ve had this much buy-in from the get-go.”
Supporters clad in the campaign’s trademark hunter green T-shirts packed Johnny Kaw’s in Aggieville Wednesday night, and erupted into applause as the results were announced. As Kays and Kennedy accepted congratulatory handshakes and hugs, sitting president and vice president Eli Schooley and Jake Unruh walked in. Schooley said that it’s bittersweet to realize their term is nearing its end, but the two are confident in their successors.
“I’ve enjoyed my time over the past year and I feel good about what Jake and I have been able to do, but I think Reagan and Cody are going to do a tremendous job enacting their platform issues and representing the student body,” Schooley, senior in political science, said. “They both have a lot of experience getting things done on campus and I think they’ll be able to get anything done they set their mind to.”
Kays and Kennedy ran on a three-part platform they called “Your Education, Your Passion, Your Life.” They plan to streamline tutoring services and communication between student organizations, and advocate for a medical amnesty law protecting underage students from legal repercussions when seeking medical help for themselves or an acquaintance due to alcohol consumption. Schooley said the medical amnesty initiative will likely be the biggest challenge Kays and Kennedy will face.
“It’s going to require coordination with the other student body presidents around the state, which will take a little external outside effort,” Schooley said. “It’s still doable, and it’s definitely a great goal, they’ll just have to work hard on it from day one.”
Although things didn’t work out quite as well for Romine and Davis, the two were happy with what they accomplished through their campaign.
“My goal from the start was to get some ideas out there, and that’s what happened,” Romine, sophomore in biology, said. “We knew we were a long shot, but we didn’t lose anything by going after it the last couple weeks.”
Although the two are both sophomores, Romine said he wasn’t sure whether they’d make another run at the office next year.
Kays and Kennedy said they plan to sit down with Romine and Davis and discuss how they could potentially implement some of their opponents’ platform initiatives.
“I was impressed by their push to get involved,” Kays said. “People with that much passion, I think they need to be involved in some way, and Cody and I are definitely open to getting ’em on a committee or getting them involved in student government in some way.”
Other election winners
Board of Directors of Student Publications:
One-Year Term: Kurt Lockwood, 1516 votes; Avery Simecka, 1069; Scott Lamunyon, 10; Kaleigh Lorenz, 8
Two-Year Term: Scott Lamunyon, 8 votes
Union Governing Board:
One-Year Term: Jessica Van Ranken, 628 votes; Andy Hurtig, 588
Two-Year Term: Drew Unruh, 1355 votes; Ava Clark, 1282; Joe Tinker, 888
College of Agriculture Senate:
Garret Kays, 357 votes; Reagan Kays, 304; Logan Britton, 301; Kurt Lockwood, 296; Nathan Laudan, 289; Emily Beneda, 233; Wyatt Pracht, 149
College of Architecture, Planning, and Design Senate:
Jeremy Migneco, 29 votes
College of Arts and Sciences Senate:
Josh Cox, 223 votes; Jordan Marquess, 188; Abby Works, 182; Jessica Van Ranken, 182; Hope Faflick, 179; Sarah Haley, 175; Ellie Dickens, 173; Stephen Kucera, 166; Emma Barnett, 165; Michael S. Kennedy, 163; Zach Lowry, 161; Joey Wenberg, 159; Madeline Frankel, 148; Mackenzie Mong, 146; Alec Khoury, 144; Meredith Funk, 142; Joe Oaks, 135
College of Business Administration Senate:
Drew Unruh, 203 votes; Emily Wheeler, 188; Patrick Kennedy, 134; Michael Emley, 127; Caitlyn Webb, 115; Spencer Brown, 115; Hannah Sharp, 113
College of Education Senate:
Cody Kennedy, 123 votes; Becky Brady, 106, Amanda Morgan, 98
College of Engineering Senate:
Kevin Klein, 215 votes; Andrew W. Woolley, 156; Joe Tinker, 156; Natalie Kutney, 153; Ben Williams, 150; Andrea Hopkins, 148; Dylan Hunter, 147; Jordan DeLoach, 146; Mason Grittman, 142
College of Human Ecology Senate:
Sarah Brill, 156 votes; Molly Wessling, 132; Audrey Gerber, 126; Dylan A. Splichal, 113; Gretchen Stone, 98; Jessica Spencer, 94
Graduate School Senate:
Hannah Miller, 83 votes; Maher Shehadi, 61; Michael Reichenberger, 61; Jan Vosahlik, 58; Caleb Kueser, 57; Evan Seiwert, 57; Caleb Garten, 53; Emily Mollahan, Heather Gibson, Kassie Curran, Lacey Ward, Mario Ortez, Shelby Hill, Steven Ramsey, 3
College of Veterinary Medicine Senate:
Madeline Sanders, one vote
