Winning office, Temple Advocating Progress looks ahead

Both the winning and losing ticket in the TSG executive election are preparing future plans.

Temple Advocating Progress is the winner of this year’s TSG executive election. TSG Student Body President-elect David Lopez, TSG Vice President of External Affairs-elect Ofo Ezeugwu and TSG Vice President of Services-elect Julian Hamer were announced the winners at noon today, April 5.

TAP received 1,593 votes, while RUN TEMPLE gathered 1,054 votes, with 11 abstentions.

“It feels really good,” Lopez, current TSG chief of staff, said. “It’s good to know our hard work paid off.”

Lopez said TAP will soon being meeting with the current TSG officers to discuss “the structuring of TSG.” TAP plans to meet with nominations for new TSG directors, and has begun making appointments with various university departments, including Campus Safety, to take place next week.

“[RUN TEMPLE] ran an excellent campaign,” Lopez said. “It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it.”

“We campaigned on what we believed in,” Brandon Rey Ramirez, RUN TEMPLE candidate for TSG student body president, said. “I’m proud of that.”

The tickets spent about two weeks formally campaigning for executive office. Ramirez said he wished RUN TEMPLE had been able to 
“get out to more students, [student] organizations…freshmen.”

Ramirez, current TSG deputy chief of staff, said he does not plan to run for any TSG director positions for next year, and will focus his efforts on student advocacy, including Temple Community Against Mountaintop Removal and opposition to worksite segregation.

“I’m still looking forward to cooperating with the new administration. I wish them the best of luck,” he said.

During the campaign, RUN TEMPLE spoke about its “Street Team,” a group of students in support of the ticket who planned to promote RUN TEMPLE’s events and speak to students about TSG. While the ticket said the team would continue after the elections, Ramirez said he is not sure of exact future plans.

“We have a large network of people who were involved with the campaign…we would like to keep that going,” Ramirez said. “It’s just kind of an organic thing.”

Amelia Brust can be reached at abrust@temple.edu.

For more on the winning ticket and on the TSG elections, pick up The Temple News on Tuesday, April 10.