For Tom Wright and Bo Mahr, the upcoming Missouri Students Association presidential election comes down to which candidates will be able to best represent MU students. Wright, the slate’s nominee for president, said he and vice-presidential candidate Mahr will do this best.

Besides running on a platform revolving around sustainability, diversity and accountability, they want to factor ideas proposed by students into the campaign, Wright said.

“If you look at our website, there’s a lot of ideas that students have brought to us,” Wright said. “We’re working those in, and they don’t always fit into a catchy tagline.”

The campaign is ever-evolving as it adapts to what the students want, Wright said. The Wright-Mahr slate is taking a grass-roots approach to their campaign which is unique among the slates in election.

But that hasn’t diminished Wright and Mahr’s own platform. Making the campus sustainable and not just on the forefront of going green is an issue Mahr said shows they care about not only MU students, but also the Columbia community.

Mahr said he has experience in the field of sustainable energy along with real-world experience that can better a transition to an MSA leadership position. He has interned at the Missouri Recycling Association and works at the Missouri Environmental Assistance Center.

“We understand what energy audits can do (and) how much money you can save by just switching lighting or your HVAC system,” Mahr said. “That will save so much money in the long run.”

Part of their sustainability plan is the elimination of coal. The coal plants in Columbia release toxic emissions that become an issue for people who suffer from asthma and similar conditions, Mahr said.

Diversity is another area that could be improved, Wright said. If elected, he and Mahr would try and educate the student body using MSA’s resources and outreach through what he calls “diversity weeks.” These would focus on the different organizations that promote diversity on campus.

“With MSA’s resources, (we can) support a group and basically for a week give them the resources to have a successful week of action,” Wright said.

It’s important for the slate to shine its light on different kinds of groups and issues of students around campus, Wright and Mahr’s campaign manager Dan Stribling said.

The idea of accountability is also prevalent in the Wright-Mahr campaign. The current hourly wage is $9.35 for MSA president and $8.85 for vice president, amounts that should be reduced to $7.25 an hour, which is minimum wage, Wright said. This would save MSA about $2,800 that could be allocated to other sources.

Campaign finance has also emerged as an issue for Wright and Mahr. If elected, they would propose finance regulations that, [according to a previous Maneater article](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2012/9/28/droegebeattie-have-attainable-goals-msa-election/), are not mentioned in the Board of Elections Commissioners handbook, Wright said.

“We feel like it shouldn’t be about who can spend the most money,” Wright said. “It should be about who has the best ideas and the person who would represent the student body best.”

Despite having only raised $200 thus far, their grass-roots approach to the campaign will have the greatest implications on the election, Stribling said.

“Asking people what they think needs to be changed,” Stribling said. “That will have the most impact, and it could beat money if we do it right.”