University students decided to move “Forward” on Wednesday as presidential candidate Zack Faircloth and vice presidential candidate Lindsey Landry won the 2016 spring Student Government election with almost 60 percent of the votes.
Amid erupting cheers from “Forward” supporters, commissioner of elections Jacob Scott announced the results Wednesday at the Live Oak Lounge in the Student Union.
The “Forward” campaign also snagged nine college presidential spots. Presidential candidates from the “Restart” campaign claimed victory for the Manship School of Mass Communication, the College of Music and Dramatic Arts and the School of Veterinary Medicine. Because there were no candidates for either president or vice president for the Paul M. Hebert Law Center, those seats remain open.
The College of Humanities and Social Sciences will have a runoff Monday between Christian Ledet from “Forward” and Amelia Fertitta from “Restart” for its presidential seat.
This election season featured more than 200 candidates, including students from the Law Center — a first in SG election history. The election had a record-breaking voter turnout with more than 10,000 students casting ballots.
“Restart” vice presidential candidate Louis Gremillion said although he is disappointed with the loss, he is optimistic for the future of SG.
“Students decided to move ‘Forward,’ so that’s what we’re going to do,” he said. “We’re going to hold Zack and Lindsey accountable … and we hope we can be instrumental in the work they accomplish.”
“Restart” campaign manager Wesley Gore said he believed his ticket accomplished a lot during the election season and was proud of Gremillion and presidential candidate Kendra Davis.
“I think that we showed a lot of problems that, systemically, are wrong with Student Government … and I think, at the end of the day, we had really great initiatives that hopefully will be able to live on somehow,” Gore said.
Faircloth and Landry said they plan to hit the ground running with their new administration, starting with campaigning for the candidates in the runoff elections. Landry said their main goal for the immediate future is getting their candidates elected. Active campaigning for runoff elections begins Thursday.
The “Forward” candidates ran on initiatives they promised could be implemented immediately after they took office, such as redesigning the LSU app, making Scantrons more accessible on campus and establishing an SG presence at the state Capitol, and Faircloth said that’s what he and Landry plan to do.
“It’s time to make our initiatives a reality … and start meeting with administrators,” Faircloth said. “There were a lot of great ideas, but they were spread across campus. Now we’ve consolidated them into one great ticket.”
Faircloth and Landry both agree their campaign’s biggest accomplishment was connecting students through their ticket and said they hope to continue to reach out to students during their administration.
Student Government vice presidential candidate Louis Gremillion Jr. (center-left) and presidential candidate Kendra Davis (center-right) from the Restart 2016 ticket react to election results on Wednesday, March 9, 2016, after losing to the Forward 2016 ticket in the Live Oak Lounge at the Student Union.
