As the semester draws to an end, the annual Student Government Associations’ spring election results were released on Friday, April 22. Sergio Baltazar, a sophomore operations and chains supply management major, won the presidential election with a tally of 1,100 votes.
This year, 2,933 ballots were cast in favor of respective candidates. The offices that were up for election were president, vice president for external affairs, vice president for internal affairs, 15 spots for senator-at-large and seven collegiate senators—education, engineering, health sciences, liberal arts, science, business and graduate school.
Two parties, UNITED and DAB, campaigned to place their representatives into office. Although the parties were successful across the board, it was Baltazar, who ran as an independent, who took the presidential spot.
“I’m pro-students because I know they suffer and that is why I proposed everything I was proposing,” Baltazar said. “I wasn’t expecting anything honestly, I was positive for both outcomes—if I win, it would be nice, if I don’t, it’s nice —because we all learn.”
Baltazar’s campaign proposed more shade zones across campus, nap areas for students and better allocation of SGA money to the common student or organizations in need of funds. But, it was his proposal to better transportation across the city and over the border that was the main focus of Baltazar’s proposals.
“The platform is all about more transportation for people from the international bridges, Eastside and Westside,” Baltazar said. “We know that the city wants to lower our contamination issues that we have, so I think that’s a good idea for them and for us since our core values are access plus excellence.”
While some assume that since he ran as an independent candidate, Baltazar would not have an abundant support system, he explains how being a solo candidate allowed him to focus more on himself with his team.
“It wasn’t hard (to run as an independent),” Baltazar said. “People think staying independent means you are single or you’re doing it by yourself. But no, you have a group of people who are helping you all the time, and that makes a team. The only thing here is that if you are in a party, you’ll see everyone will talk by themselves because they want to win.”
Now ex-President Robert Dominguez, a senior biochemistry major, commended Baltazar’s bold decision to run independently.
“I ran against him last year and he ran as an independent candidate, which is something I value very much because that is how I became president my first year—I ran as an independent,” Dominguez said. “Having him taking that initiative and being that bold by running by himself, I already have the most respect. But talking to him, knowing him as a person, he has a lot of heart, he has character and he has vision. From the get-go, he’s always wanted to be very proactive and I think that’s the type of energy that’s going to be utilized so well.”
Baltazar won over DAB candidate, Hector Quintero (777 votes), and UNITED candidate, Yussef Luna (738 votes). He is already planning for his road ahead and what is to come during his presidency.
“I’m going to start working with administration to see what they have completed and what they need to teach us,” Baltazar said. “That way I can continue with the projects that they have and the very first day, our administration start changing things and start working with them to make an impact.”
Below are the results:
President
Sergio Miguel Gomez Baltazar (INDEP)
Vice President of External Affairs
Justin L. Cruz (UNITED)
Vice President of Internal Affairs
Mariana Prieto (DAB )
Senator-at-Large
Tania Mariscal (INDEP)
Grissel R. Rodriguez (DAB)
Mariana Briones (UNITED)
Mitzi Anguiano (DAB)
Austin N. Adams (UNITED)
Paulina Espinoza (UNITED)
Amarige K. Azzam (UNITED)
Katie Gallegos (DAB)
Alfonso Arreguin (INDEP)
Stephanie Paz (DAB)
Esber Aboud (DAB)
Celeste I. Acevedo (DAB)
Estefania I. Herrera (UNITED)
Michael A. Villalobos (DAB)
Evelyn Ruiz (UNITED)
Senator Collegiate – Business
Paola Chavez (DAB)
Senator Collegiate – Education
Tony Perez (UNITED)
Senator Collegiate – Engineering
Dante Chaparro Vega (UNITED)
Senator Collegiate – Health Sciences
Iverre S. Lopez (DAB)
Senator Collegiate – Liberal Arts
Jane Aman (UNTIED)
Senator Collegiate – Science
Edmundo Esparza (UNITED)
Senator Collegiate – Nursing
N/A
Senator Collegiate – Graduate
April M. Rumgay (UNITED)
UNITED party member Paulina Espinoza-Gonzalez, a freshman psychology major, was very surprised about the results.
“I was pretty sad yesterday because I didn’t think I was going to win at all, but I can’t believe it, I’m still in shock,” Espinoza-Gonzalez said. “It’s such a great moment—all that hard work paid off. I’m so glad I participated.”
Adrian Broaddus may be reached at theprospectordaily.news.com.
