Nile Blass (COL ’22) and Nicole Sanchez (SFS ’23) will become the next GUSA Executive president and vice president following an election by the undergraduate student body conducted between Feb. 25 and Feb. 27, the GUSA Election Commission announced on Twitter at 12:04 a.m. EST on Feb. 28.
1,598 students voted in the election by the time polls closed at 11:59 p.m. EST on Saturday night, the commission wrote. Blass and Sanchez won by 233 votes over Daniella Sanchez (COL ’22) and Leo Arnett (SFS ’22), the only other executive ticket on the ballot.
Blass and Sanchez’s campaign focused on meeting the student body’s immediate needs on issues such as COVID-19, financial aid, sustainability, racial justice, and Title IX. “We envision a GUSA where student advocacy is strengthened by student leaders unwilling to back down from a fight,” their campaign website reads.
Blass and Sanchez both have extensive advocacy experience both within and outside of GUSA, a fact the pair emphasized throughout their campaign. Blass, a member of the Provost’s Student Advisory Committee within GUSA, has also been active in groups such as the GU272 Advocacy Team, the Black Student Alliance, the Black Survivors Coalition, and Black Lives Matter DC. Sanchez, a former GUSA senator, has been involved in the Georgetown Scholars Program and the Latinx Leadership Forum.
The pair also pledges to work towards large structural change for GUSA. This restructuring project includes abolishing the Senate and many positions with the Executive in favor of making GUSA a collective structure.
A statement from former GUSA executives Nico Ferretti (SFS ’21) and Bryce Badger (MSB ’21) extended their congratulations and hopes for a smooth transition process to the new executive. “ The ultimate goal of Executive Elections is to bring crucial issues to the forefront of conversations and it is safe to say that both campaigns did so,” they wrote. “We are prepared to work with Nile and Nicole as soon as possible to begin the transition process. It is our goal that the transition be seamless and transparent.”
