Updated: April 13, 2026, at 7:28 p.m.

Liz Stoddard’s campaign for Student Government Association vice president didn’t draw sophomore Aimee Okagawa’s attention through its policies — it was the pink that stuck in her mind and encouraged her to sign on this year as manager of Stoddard’s presidential campaign.

She’s one of dozens of students now filling the ranks of SGA presidential and vice presidential campaigns, which have ballooned in size this election cycle following the body’s removal of the cap of 12 authorized agents earlier this year, leading to candidates enlisting as many as 40 volunteers to spread their message throughout campus. Thanks to the campaign teams working around the clock to reach potential voters in as many ways as possible, viral TikToks, colorfully taped posters and Instagram infographics have filled students’ feeds and the campus’ hallways in the days leading up to this week’s elections. 

The SGA Senate reformed the Joint Elections Commission’s charter earlier this year to raise campaign finance limits and remove caps on authorized agents — volunteers registered with the JEC to represent a candidate — in an effort to allow SGA campaigns to gain more traction and recruit more students to vote.

With larger teams, campaign leaders said they can survey student needs and expand outreach, hoping to boost voter turnout, which hovered around 10 percent last election.

Teams typically include the candidate and up to five supervisors who oversee authorized agents, develop candidates’ policies and work to market the platform and candidate to the student body, according to eight campaign agents spread across four campaigns. SGA presidential candidate Alfred Lewis Jr.’s campaign did not return a request for an interview. 

Here’s a look at some of this year’s campaigns and their approaches to student outreach:

MJ Childs: Powered by the algorithm

You may know MJ Childs is running for SGA, thanks to his campaign team’s viral TikToks.

Troi Davis, a senior studying marketing and campaign manager for Childs who manages media production, said her strategy to attract audiences requires playing into online algorithms: fast-paced videos under 60 seconds to hook views and captions to be inclusive for people who can’t hear or prefer listening without volume. 

“The algorithm for TikTok, Instagram, even Twitter, Snapchat, pretty much every social media platform is going to push out a video more than they push out a picture,” Davis said.

Davis said TikTok can reach wide audiences, pointing to a video the campaign team designed and filmed of Childs ironically asking the camera directly why campus businesses were closed over the weekend despite tuition increasing. Childs in the video asks “Where is my $100k?” — referencing GW’s rising cost of attendance — which received over 34,000 likes on TikTok within three days and was reposted by Washingtonian Probs, a popular social media account sharing D.C. news with over 600,000 followers. 

Jude-Michel Poisson, a sophomore and one of three campaign managers on presidential candidate MJ Childs’ campaign, said Childs’ campaign enlists 30 to 40 authorized agents, organized across policy development, media releases and student organization outreach, which he said are kept separate so each can focus on their respective purpose. He said Childs’ campaign managers “float” between teams to monitor authorized agents and help Childs develop policy and marketing strategies. 

Poisson said all members in the campaign joined because of their friendships with Childs or another campaign member as opposed to future goals of working in politics.

“I’d much rather some people who actually know MJ on a personal level and actually believe in what he’s doing be the people supporting him,” Poisson said.

Shadhvi Gowrisankar, a first-year studying political science and a campaign manager for Childs, said authorized agents can use their membership in organizations to identify events for Childs to attend, and the campaign’s goal has been interacting with as many students and organizations as possible. Gowrisankar said as an honors student living on the Mount Vernon Campus, she knew about the annual Vern Tailgate and was sure to invite Childs. 

“It’s super beneficial in the sense of it’s more people out there spreading his name, spreading his beliefs and his policies and things like that,” Gowrisankar said.

Liz Stoddard: Branding the bob

Liz Stoddard’s campaign manager is seeking to continue a legacy.

Okagawa said the campaign — Stoddard’s third — aims to build up Stoddard’s established brand by continuing the two-year tradition of emphasizing her distinctive style, composed of bright pink attire, pantsuits and, of course, her signature bob. She said the campaign seeks to remind voters of Stoddard’s experience in the SGA by continuing the tradition of pink in posters and duct tape used to hang them and referencing Stoddard’s signature hair in the slogan “bob for the job,” which she said was reused from Stoddard’s vice presidential campaign to maintain continuity.

Okagawa said the campaign oversees about 35 authorized agents, who help with policy development and communications. 

She said this year’s campaign also adopted an expanded color palette to include more “mature” colors, like maroon and dark blue, to represent Stoddard running for a higher office.

“We wanted to show a more mature side and straighten out how we can differentiate her from being vice president to now being in an elevated position as a presidential candidate,” Okagawa said.

Maelee Hurst, a first-year studying political science and Spanish, and another campaign manager for Stoddard, said the campaign, aided by about 35 authorized agents, tries to spread positivity about Stoddard through stickers and posters and explaining her policies to students in the University Student Center and Kogan Plaza. She said the campaign has also leaned into “authentic” unscripted short videos on Instagram, though they’ve had difficulty overcoming the hurdle of negativity on a platform that is not heavily moderated.

Cheydon Naleimaile-Evangelista: Dancing through (campaign) life

Cheydon Naleimaile-Evangelista’s campaign wants you to know his stances on the top issues concerning students. Then, they want you to see his dance moves.

Alayna Kadarusman, a first-year majoring in international affairs and the communications director for vice presidential candidate Cheydon Naleimaile-Evangelista, said the campaign is composed of about 25 authorized agents. She said she works with Naleimaile-Evangelista and five other members in the communications group to create Instagram post ideas, ranging from infographics explaining policies to Reels of Naleimaile-Evangelista dancing and “day-in-the-life” videos to introduce his personality to voters.

Kadarusman said Naleimaile-Evangelista acts as a liaison between the policy and communications teams, which are separate to keep the campaign organized and efficient. She said the campaign has sought to increase Naleimaile-Evangelista’s relatability to the student body by mixing more lighthearted content in with his policy proposals. 

“One of the reasons why I’m on the communication team is because I very much agree with what he’s trying to push,” Kadarusman said.

Anoushka Rao, a sophomore studying international affairs and economics and a policy advisor for Naleimaile-Evangelista, said students are more willing to engage and share their opinions in person when campaign members are collecting signatures or attending on-campus events. 

Rao said she’s found many students willing to engage in conversations with her about Naleimaile-Evangelista’s policies, like revising GW’s Title IX policy and reopening dining locations on weekends, which she attributed to GW’s politically engaged student body — one of the highest in the country. She said students’ interest in politics also makes them accepting of and excited by the elaborate campaigns for student government.

“People feel more free to talk about things in person rather than online because I think there’s an element of not being put on the spot, there’s no pressure,” Rao said. 

Aicha Sy: Step by step strategy

For vice presidential candidate Aicha Sy’s campaign manager, the devil’s in the details.

Katy Corcoran, a sophomore and campaign manager for vice presidential candidate Aicha Sy, describes herself as Sy’s “right-hand woman,” drafting the campaign’s platform, operating the social media and content calendar and helping put up posters around campus. Corcoran said she felt the campaign has been “strategic” about when to post certain content on social media, like posting about the Vern ahead of the SGA’s Vern Forum Thursday and staggering posts about Sy’s platform to allow students to fully digest information. 

She said even if wordy infographics may not get picked up by social media algorithms, she still thinks students should have specifics on what candidates plan to implement if elected.

 “We want the students to know what it is that we stand for,” Corcoran said. 

Corcoran said Sy’s campaign enlists fewer than 20 authorized agents, and in addition to posts about Sy’s policies, she also tries to include information about what the SGA is and does in general to increase student engagement with the SGA overall.

“SGA elections can come off as so serious here at GW, but the truth is, even candidates that don’t win are likely still going to be org leaders, student leaders, community leaders, maybe even still be involved in SGA, so I think it’s more about using the campaign period to show students what the SGA can actually do and how it can help them,” Corcoran said.

This story was updated to correct the following:

A previous version of this post misspelled Gowrisankar. We regret this error.