SGA Election Results

Cason Kirby, Brandon Clark, Mike Dodson, Philip Mahoney, Louise Crow, Allen Ross and Blair Darnell all won their positions for SGA Executive Council Wednesday evening.

In the race for SGA President, Cason Kirby crushed Stephen Saucier, receiving 4,166 of the 5,240 total votes cast.

"I think the campaign went really well," Kirby said. "I think over the course of the past few weeks students were really able to see what each candidate stood for, and I think they understood that experience does matter, and they chose the right candidate."

Saucier said he wasn't shocked by the margin of victory.

"I'm not surprised, but it doesn't really change anything, I don't think. Regardless of the results I'm planning on getting a lot of the things we talked about fixed," he said.

Conspicuously absent from the announcement was Saucier, the junior Avanti and UA Table Tennis Club president who was challenging Kirby. Saucier said he wasn't aware the announcement was Wednesday evening.

Kirby said that his challenger ran well nonetheless.

"I think he ran a good campaign and added a lot to the debate, and I think the student body is better for it," he said.

One of the most contested races was that for vice president of External Affairs between Kendra Key and Mike Dodson.

Even Dodson admitted it was a tight race.

"It was probably pretty close. Kendra was great, and we were both out there campaigning really hard," he said. "[I'm] just incredibly relieved and excited. I'm ready to get in that office and do a good job."

Despite the loss, Key was optimistic.

"I'm very pleased, I'm excited the students took the opportunity to explore the candidates and obviously I wanted it to go the other way, but I'm glad things went as well as they did," Key said.

The race for vice president for Academic Affairs between Brandon Clark and Aubrey Coleman was also closely contested.

"It was a good campaign on both sides, and the students were heard," Clark said. "I'm ready to continue working on those issues immediately."

Four of the executive positions were unopposed, leaving four candidates with a fairly confident chance of being elected.

Philip Mahoney won vice president of Financial Affairs, and said he was excited to know he beat out some potential write-ins.

"Probably the only time I will beat Julio Jones at the University of Alabama," he said. "I'm very excited to continue working really."

Allen Ross, the winner of the race for executive vice president, was relieved by the victory.

"It feels great; I'm very excited, and I look forward to leading the Senate into the new session," Ross said.

Elected vice president for Student Affairs, Louise Crow joked about "campaigning" against write-ins, such as famed Brother Micah.

"With Brother Micah's public speaking skills and his ability to get a crowd's attention, I knew it was going to [be a] hard road. With the amount of people he was upsetting, a positive campaign would win. I think I showed Brother Micah who's boss," she said. "I'm so excited, it's a continuation of all my work in SGA."