Claire Lew will serve as president of Associated Student Government next year, with Hiro Kawashima as vice president. Students voted all day Wednesday via NU Link, with polls closing at 7 p.m.
Lew and Kawashima received over 67 percent of the votes, defeating opponents Alessio Manti and Adam Thompson-Harvey by a margin of 1,305 votes. There were 3,482 ballots cast (full statistics available here).
In the same election, sophomore Katie Bradford won for the position of Student Life Vice President over opponent Jonathan Friedman. Gabrielle Daniels and Zach Wittchow will advance to a run-off for Academic Vice President, which will take place Friday.
The news came to Manti around 7:45, while he and supporters waited outside on Deering Field, the SESP sophomore’s “favorite place on campus.”
“It’s a peaceful spot,” Manti said, minutes before learning the results. “I figured it would be a nice place to unwind.”
Total silence fell over the field when Manti received the call from the election commission, and the mood immediately fell.
Meanwhile, Lew and her team, gathered in the PARC lounge, anxiously awaiting her call from the election commission.
“I had this weird feeling of calm, of numbness,” Lew, a SESP junior, said. “Then it hit me like a wave, I was overwhelmed.”
The lounge rang with cheers of excitement, and later, outgoing president Mike McGee showed up and banged on the windows in celebration.
Lew served as the Director of Public Relations for ASG this year, and her standing within ASG earned her huge support from within the organization.
Though the loss was a blow after an intense 12-day campaign period, the experience was not lost on Manti, who says he gained a lot from the process of campaigning.
“[I gained] a whole lot of discipline,” he said. “I also learned how to keep an even keel about things and not get too riled up about anything good or bad.”
Despite emails from both camps that circulated Monday with “non-respectful discourse,” which resulted in campaign violations for each presidential candidate, Lew had only positive things to say about her opponent.
“We have nothing but respect for each other. He’s only a sophomore, he has only future successes ahead of him,” said Lew.
For now, the new president has just two things on her mind: “I’m going to sleep. I’m going to eat.”
Check out Claire and Alessio’s reactions after the election.