William Jewell and Taylor Scott from the “Elevate” ticket have won the 2019 Student Government presidential election after the primary election resulted in a runoff between “Elevate” and “All In.”
“Elevate” fell just under three percent short of the 50 percent of votes required for them to win the primary election, but the candidates persisted and received around 57 percent of the votes in the runoff.
“I think the winner today was the student body,” Jewell said.
President-elect Jewell said he was pleased that this election was contested, as opposed to the last two elections, because students had the chance to learn more about the tickets and the candidates. He’s also excited that the hard work of the “Elevate” ticket has come to fruition, and he’s ready get to work and start implementing initiatives.
Jewell and running mate Scott had 200 candidates for other SG positions or official supporters on their ticket, which was the largest this election season. Jewell and Scott said the University’s top student leaders worked on their campaign, and many of them were elected to SG positions this semester.
Scott said she’s excited about the results, and she never imagined herself in this position.
“I’m so grateful not just that we won, but that we got this amazing opportunity to meet people and work with them,” Scott said.
Jewell said he believes all the presidential and vice presidential candidates who ran this election season will continue doing great things for students, and he wanted to congratulate “All In” runner-up Catherine Mckinney and her running mate, Nash Joyner, on their success.
McKinney said she’s happy for Jewell and Scott, and she and Joyner will stay active in SG.
“We’re going to hopefully work with the new administration to get our goals done,” Joyner said.
Current SG vice president Rachel Campbell said she’s excited about the new administration, and she thinks the elections went especially well since they were contested.
“I think they had a good race,” SG president Stewart Lockett said. “That was close.”
Jewell, a finance junior, and Scott, a mass communication and African and African American studies junior, ran on five main platforms that encompass their ideas and initiatives — enhancing the Tiger experience, transportation reform, improving campus safety, fighting for funding and health and wellness. Jewell said they will work hard to implement their initiatives, but having fun and creating a positive atmosphere on campus is also important.
Both Jewell and Scott have been in SG since they were freshmen, and Jewell said they have seen what does and doesn’t work in SG. They plan to learn from SG’s past failures and expand upon its successes.
