The candidates for the Student Government Association are in the home stretch of the election process this week, as prospective politicians vie for highly competitive spots in the academic legislature.

SGA held two candidate forums last week on March 26 for the Academic Senate and Class Council candidates, and March 28 for the Executive Board candidates. The students gave their candidate statements first and then were asked questions by SGA and the audience as a way to get to know the academic year 2025-26 hopefuls. 

“[I’ve] enjoyed working at SGA so much,” Chief Justice Georgia Winn, who is running for executive president, said at the Executive Board candidate forum. “[It is] without a doubt my favorite thing [I’ve] done at Emerson.” 

Winn explained to the audience how she first was interested in running when Kayla Armbruster, who is currently executive vice president, reached out to her. 

Winn’s first act as chief justice was to rewrite the entire SGA constitution. “[I wanted to] make it a consistent, living document that reflects values as an Emerson community, a document that helps us grow as an institution,” she said to the audience.

Winn is running alongside Angus Abercrombie, who is currently executive vice treasurer and is running for executive vice president and communication studies senator. Abercrombie is currently in his third year of working in the treasury team.

“Through those, over two years now, we’ve done some very valuable work; speaking up for student activists, telling administrators what students really need on campus and what to focus on, some really key wins in that time,” he said at the Executive Board candidate forum. “So many of those are made possible by coming into these proceedings with a good understanding of the policy and process.” 

Many candidates are running for multiple positions too, and some for reelection. 

Other candidates running for Executive Board positions are first-year marketing communication major Bushe Wang, sophomore media studies major Charlotte Cocozza, and junior political communication major Oliver Katz.

The Academic Senate has several other candidates running for communication studies senator, including sophomore communication studies major Riley Simson and junior public relations major Maxwell Brady-Lewis. Junior interdisciplinary studies major Ocean Muir is running uncontested for Marlboro interdisciplinary studies senator, and first-year visual media arts major Chris Gao and junior writing, literature, and publishing major Caroline White are both running for visual media arts senator. 

For the Class of 2026 Council, junior business of creative enterprises major Lauren Wiedenmann is running uncontested for president alongside junior journalism major Anastasia Petridis who is running uncontested for vice president. Junior communication studies major Addison Winter is running uncontested for secretary. 

There are two candidates running for the Class of 2027 Council. Sophomore interdisciplinary studies major Riley Miller and sophomore political communication major Levi Armstrong are both running for president.

As for the Class of 2028 Council, three candidates are running for president, one being first-year visual media arts major Sophia Jade Kong who runs against Wang and Gao. Running for vice president is first-year media arts production major Ishwarya Krishna.

Carlson Jones, a photographer at The Beacon, is running to hold her position as visual media arts senator. 

“[My] key takeaway from students is diversity in curriculum,” Jones said at the Academic Senate and Class Council candidate forum. “Also hear[ing] voices that aren’t just white and cisgender … [and] mainstream.”

One challenge Jones faced the past year was communication within Emerson’s community, she explained to the audience. 

“I am a student here, [I] don’t have that much power which is unfortunate,” she said. 

Jacqueline Weyker is also running again for marketing communications senator. As a marketing communication major, Weyker is continuing her research on level 300 marketing courses, making “strong efforts” to have students’ voices heard by faculty members.

“[I’m] making sure ones chosen for [the] next coming semester really align with [the] current class and what they want.” Weyker said.

Katz, running for reelection to his position of executive treasurer, wants to help people feel more comfortable with the treasury and SGA. 

“I want SGA to be someplace where students who have concerns feel that they can come to us,” he said. “We’re just student[s] too, we’re not just some people with so much power.”

Voting closes April 2 at 9 p.m. SGA will announce election results at the following general assembly meeting on April 4.