The Real GW slate, led by Student Association presidential candidate Morgan Corr and Angela Chang for executive vice president, almost pulled off an election sweep last week.
But for the sweep to be complete, Corr and Chang will have to win this week’s runoff election scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. Juniors Lamar Thorpe and Josh Lasky, who are running for SA president and EVP respectively and are not affiliated, are confident that will not be happening.
“We’re going to stick with what got us this far, and that 6 percent gap tonight is going to be even larger and the other way around next week,” Thorpe said Friday of the 177 votes that separated him and Corr, who got more votes than any other presidential candidate.
Early Friday morning the Joint Elections Committee, the election’s oversight body, announced that Real GW won 15 of the 21 positions its candidates were vying for, while the other two slates in this year’s election combined to have candidates win.
Corr garnered 904 of the 3,183 votes (28.4 percent) cast last Wednesday and Thursday for SA president while Thorpe received 727 votes (22.8 percent).
“This proves what will happen when you go out there and talk to students about real issues,” Corr, a junior, said early Friday morning in the Marvin Center after learning that he would be facing Thorpe in a runoff election for SA president.
“It really came down to the support we had from all of our volunteers,” said Chang, who received 844 votes (27.3 percent) compared to Lasky’s 914 votes (29.5 percent).
Thorpe said he is optimistic about his chances in the runoff election, set to occur this Wednesday and Thursday.
“I feel great,” Thorpe said early last Friday. “I felt great when The Hatchet endorsed me and felt confident that I would make it this far.”
Thorpe, who ran as an independent candidate in the election, said he doesn’t need a slate to propel him to victory.
“I’ve always looked at slates as something for people who can’t get elected on their own,” Thorpe said Friday morning after the JEC announced he would be in the runoff.
“Slates can be divisive in student government,” Thorpe said. “I have not been divisive and I’ve treated everyone the same.”
Thorpe attributed his success in the general election to a platform of fairness, opportunity and community.
Thorpe said he has already received the support of the other two slates that ran in the election, sophomore Elliot Rozenberg’s GWUnited team and sophomore Nick D’Addario’s College Party. A third SA presidential hopeful, junior Nate Hayward, dropped out of the race after the first day of the election to support Thorpe.
Rozenberg came in third place in the general election, receiving 675 votes, while D’Addario came in fourth with 391 votes and sophomore Casey Pond finished fifth with 320 votes.
Lasky, like Thorpe, is not worried about the Real GW slate.
“The Senate is about an open discussion, and I don’t need to have people who ran on a campaign with me to facilitate that,” Lasky, who ran with GWUnited, said.
“I’m happy I’m in the runoff but I’m not satisfied yet,” Lasky added. “My key is going to be making sure that I talk to people I’ve never met and work to firm up the support that has gotten me this far.”
The Corr-headed Real GW won four of the six Columbian College of Arts and Sciences undergraduate Senate seats, swept the three Elliott School of International Affairs undergraduate seats, won three of the four MCGB undergraduate seats and one of the two School of Business seats.
Junior Maria Bea Querido beat junior Dan Secatore by a tally of 1,346 to 985 to capture Program Board chair, while junior Dustin Wright will be the PB vice chair.
This year’s presidential runoff may bring a feeling of deja vu to some. Last year, senior Ben Traverse, who ran on the dominating Coalition for Reform slate, with Corr, faced off against SA president Audai Shakour, an independent, in the runoff election. Shakour, the independent candidate, won by fewer than 40 votes.
-Nadia Sheikh contributed to this report.
