Students elected Josiah Mendoza and Molly Miller of “Show Me Mizzou” as the next president and vice president of the Missouri Students Association. The pair won 69% of the campus-wide vote in their campaign against Samantha Hole and Daniel Daugherty of “Maximize Mizzou.” 

Additionally, students approved the $0.48 fee to fund Associated Students of the University of Missouri student fee and its permanency, with 76.67% of the campus-wide vote in favor of the fee. 

Mendoza said winning the election was enormously humbling. 

“I’m very, very grateful for this opportunity, and I know Molly and I both are just excited to get to work because both of us are hard workers,” Mendoza said. “We’re going to get to work on formulating our cabinet and collaborating with the speaker of the [MSA] Senate and current presidents and any incoming office holder to ensure we are entering this process smoothly.” 

The Show Me Mizzou campaign platform focuses on increased transparency between the MU administration and student body. They want more mental health services for students, improved diversity, equality and inclusion resources, improved interpersonal relationships between students, and easier access to administrators. 

Miller said her and Mendoza hope to move into an exciting year “of a lot of things and a lot of policies.”

“We need to make sure that we move as a team,” Miller said. “We don’t want others or the administration to try to stop some of those ideas and policies because [it’s] important to students that we have a voice and that it doesn’t get quiet.” 

Both Mendoza and Miller said they are excited to take the lessons they learned throughout the campaign into their terms this next year, as well as engaging with more students, student organizations and MU administration. 

Throughout the campaign, Miller said that she learned to have more faith in who she is and what she can accomplish. Mendoza said that he enjoyed being able to connect with MU students. Mendoza said Miller helped bring out a more extroverted side to him, as she is “extremely sociable.” Miller also said how excited she is to “expand the image and knowledge of MSA on campus.” 

Mendoza said the results of the election are a direct reflection of their confidence, hard work and perseverance. 

“You get out what you put in, and it was cool to learn that if you put out the work and make the right moves, you can really propel yourself,” Mendoza said. 

Hole and Daugherty said they found comfort in knowing their campaign platform, “Maximize Mizzou,” had similar ideas as “Show Me Mizzou.” The “Show Me Mizzou” campaign had four main pillars: increased communication with administrators, integrating Greek Life with both national organizations and non-Greek Life students, prioritizing student safety, and revitalizing student resources. However, Daugherty said he wishes there was a greater turnout from the MU undergraduate class. 

“It’s disheartening to see that we weren’t even able to get over 2,000 votes total at a university that has over 28,000 undergraduates,” Daugherty said. “Less than 10% of students know who’s going to be in charge of the largest organization on campus with the largest amount of funding of almost three-quarters of a million dollars, and students don’t know who’s doing it. I wish more students were able to get engaged in general.” 

The general election also elected three new senators. Rosemary Boswell will serve the School of Journalism, Taylor McMahan will serve the College of Arts and Science and Sebastian Carpenter will serve the Trulaske College of Business. Mendoza and Miller will replace the current MSA president and vice president, Landon Brickey and Emily Smith, during their inauguration on April 5.

Edited by Emmet Jamieson | ejamieson@themaneater.com