Alexander Luzula | Assistant News Director
With only a month left until Election Day, the Student Government Association has announced its list of candidates for all seats up for election this year. Elections this year are being held on two days, March 5 and March 6.
Prior to the election, a candidate’s debate will be held on Feb. 21 at 6 pm in GC 243 on the Modesto Maidique Campus, and will be broadcast on Zoom and at Panther Square in the Biscayne Bay Campus’s Wolfe University Center.
Two major parties have emerged this year: The Future is You Party, with 56 candidates and the Gold and Blue party with 31 candidates.
Current VP of SGA Santana Way is running for president under The Future Is You Party, with pre-law junior Maria Pujol as his running mate. For the Gold and Blue Party, civil engineering major Francesca Casanova is running for president, with business administration junior David Almansa as her running mate.
Almansa currently serves as one of four senators representing the College of Business.
Three candidates are also up for the position of Governor of the Biscayne Bay Campus. Under the Future Is You Party, both Amya Harrison and Jabari Baptiste are up for the position. Baptiste is currently the incumbent senator representing BBC Housing in the student legislature.
Rubens Bravo is also running under the Gold and Blue Party on a platform of improved transportation and more events and engagement at BBC.
Five seats are open to represent the College of Business: Amanda Rodriguez, Faith St. Rose, Kolton Womack, Oswaldo Chamorro, and Patricia Fernandez Correia are running under the Future Is You Party, while Callista Peterson, Kai Palomino, Lorenzo Bueso, Rafaela Matos, and Wilkin Caseres are running under the Gold and Blue Party.
The College of Arts, Sciences, and Education currently has the most open seats at 11, with 29 candidates on the ballot. Two of the 10 incumbent senators, Daniel Salup-Cid and Manuela Trejos, are up for re-election, in addition to the other nine vacancies.
Only two candidates are on the ballot to represent the College of Communications, Architecture and the Arts- Anne-Sarah Lambert and E.M. Krause, both in The Future Is You Party. Since there are only two open seats for CARTA, their victory is pretty much guaranteed.
Eight candidates are in the running for the four seats in the College of Engineering and Computing. Of the eight candidates, two are currently incumbent senators- Erika Noel and Samuel Vogel.
Five seats are also open representing the Graduate School, with incumbent senator Hossam Hussein being the only one seeking re-election. Hussein is one of nine candidates running in the graduate school.
Incumbent Honors College Senator Anish Sharma is the only candidate running for the current Honors College seat. Likewise, since there is only one open seat representing the Honors College, Sharma’s victory is guaranteed at this point.
Incumbent BBC Lower Division Senator Dale Brochinsky is changing seats, running for the Hospitality and Tourism seat against Gold and Blue candidate Hailey Menendez.
Incumbent MMC Housing Senator Alexander Stone is the only incumbent running for re-election, with five other candidates up on the ballot. There are only three seats available to represent MMC Housing.
BBC Housing candidate Ashley Young is the only candidate on the ballot, running to fill the vacancy left by outgoing Senator Baptiste. Young currently serves on the student legislature as a senator for BBC’s Upper Division. As the only candidate on the ballot, Young is certain to assume the seat.
Eight candidates are up for three seats representing the School of International and Public Affairs- Dhruvi Vijaykumar Patel, Francisco Cueto, and Miguel Giminez of the Gold and Blue Party, German Mata, James Hernandez, Liz-Angela Tillias and Shawn Lopez from The Future Is You Party, and independent candidate Bianaca Jaldin Gonzalez.
Three candidates are running to represent the Lower Division of MMC, which has only one open seat- Alejandro Rodriguez of the Gold and Blue Party, and Davari Demps and Ivanna Hernandez of The Future is You Party.
Elisa Leon is the only candidate running to represent the College of Public Health and Social Work, which has only one open seat, making her victory certain.
Seven candidates are in the running for the two seats available for MMC’s Upper Division: Gabriel Diaz-Gonzalez of the Gold and Blue Party, Ismael Columna, Morgan Villanueva, and Wilson Narea of the Future Is You Party, and independent candidates Joncarlo Ospina and Kassandra Toussaint.
Finally, Gold and Blue candidate Nicolas De Aguiar is the only candidate in the running for the position of BBC Upper Division Senator.
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