Sophomore Ryan Rani and junior Erta Hoxha were elected Associated Student Government (ASG) President and Vice President for the 2024-25 school year in the first unopposed presidential race in three years on May 1.

Sophomore Claire Krebs was elected Senate Chair and ran unopposed.

In the down-ballot races, Carolyn Bayram was elected junior senator. Allyson Li, Carmen Duque-Diaz, Frank Pusich, Johnathan Amidi and Taara Khan were elected as next year’s sophomore senators.

The last presidential ticket to face no opposition was Abby Alvarez and Angel Lin, who were elected ASG President and Vice President for the 2021-22 school year.

Current ASG President Lilly Humber referenced a number of potential explanations for the multiple uncontested races this year, including a sustained drop in student involvement post-COVID and the requirement that the ASG President and Vice President be elected on one ticket.

“I think there are plenty of people who would make a terrific president or VP, but are unable to find a running mate,” Humber said in an email to The Santa Clara.

Years ago, prior to a change in the ASG bylaws, the Vice President was appointed alongside the rest of the ASG Executive Branch.

Rani currently serves as ASG Financial Resource Liaison. He is also part of the Activities Programming Board (APB), Intandesh, and the SCU Investment Club. Hoxha, the Vice President-elect, is the ASG Senator-At-Large for International, Commuter and Transfer Students.

During ASG Debate Night on April 30, Rani and Hoxha stressed the balance of their ticket. Hoxha brings ASG Senate experience to the ticket, which Rani does not–a key reason why Rani says he chose Hoxha as his running mate. Rani, through his experience as Financial Resource Liaison and other involvements on campus, has experience managing finances and dialoguing with administration.

“At that position, I get access to connections with admin and other student leaders on campus,” Rani said. “I feel like my knowledge and my connections make me one of the best candidates for this role.”

Rani and Hoxha’s campaign was run on three main pillars: educating the student body on campus issues, accessibility for students to become more involved on campus and transparency. This election cycle’s uncontested races allowed the candidates to begin planning their transition into their roles earlier than usual.

“A week before we actually got started campaigning, we found out that we were running unopposed,” Rani said. “So we did start looking ahead and thinking about, okay, what's next? Let's start working with the Senate Chair because the Senate Chair position was also unopposed.”

Krebs, the Senate Chair-elect, currently serves as ASG Senator-At-Large for Student Safety. As she assumes this new role, Krebs will take the helm of a relatively inexperienced ASG Senate next year.

“This upcoming year is going to be slightly unique for Senate as we're going to have a lot of new people coming in,” Krebs said. “We're probably going to have more new people than returners, which is really exciting for me as it gives me the opportunity to really resolve some of the issues we've had within the senate in the past and start anew.”

Krebs’ platform aligns with Rani and Hoxha’s in a number of areas, including increased accountability for off-campus Greek life organizations and increased collaboration between ASG and other organizations on campus.

The new ASG members-elect will take office following the current school year, and ASG is currently working to fill open executive positions for next year.

When asked about what he wants the legacy of his presidency to be, Rani stressed the theme of responsiveness to student input.

“That students feel safe. Students feel welcome,” Rani said “They feel comfortable coming and talking to us. I don't want there to ever be a disconnect or gap between the ASG Executive Branch, ASG Senate and the student body, because we are meant to represent the student body. So as long as I feel like we did a good job at that and the student body is happy with what we did in our efforts–I'm happy with that.”