Out of 1,528 undergraduate students who made it to the polls, 950 voted for Hagengruber, who currently serves as vice president of the undergraduate student governing body.
While she was nervous for not only herself, but for her team in the moments leading up to the announcement, Hagengruber said the overwhelming victory of her slate was the best feeling.
“It’s cool to know that all of that work and progress was successful, because to see that the people that I’ve spent the last three months working with are going into office just shows me that we have such passionate and hard working people on our slate,” she said.
The 1,528 student voters was more than double the turnout of the fall election, when only 682 made it to the polls.
Justin Cooper, a freshman business administration major, got the most votes of the 35 senatorial candidates with 628. He said working closely with his slate, and ensuring that everyone was working for each other and not just themselves, was key to Drive for ASUNM’s success.
“We all worked together,” he said. “We had a pep talk this morning, and we went in with our motto that we’re all driven for the same goal.”
Six of the nine new senators already had ASUNM experience at various levels, ranging from Emerging Lobo Leaders, the preparatory program for future senators, to attorney general.
Cooper said that that experience will be vital to what he and his elected team members plan to accomplish while in office.
“We’ve already started working on it and now I think it’s a good time for us to continue to pursue, accomplish it and make it a reality,” Cooper said.
Gabe Gallegos, a freshman double majoring in political science and strategic communication, got the third most votes for senatorial candidates with 561 and will serve as an ASUNM senator for the first time after going through Emerging Lobo Leaders this year.
Gallegos also attributed his victory to the close collaboration of Drive for ASUNM, and said he is excited to get started as a senator.
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“I want to work tomorrow. For me, this has been a process for months now. I had to think about if this is the best decision for me, and this really validated that for me,” Gallegos said.
Hagengruber’s opponent for the presidency, Sen. Mack Follingstad, garnered 450 votes. He said he told Hagengruber beforehand that no matter the outcome, he is confident in the future of ASUNM.
“We knew it was going to be a tough race, and I’m not at all disappointed,” he said.
Two senatorial candidates from Follingstad’s slate, GO ASUNM, rounded out the eleven new senators that will begin serving in the fall.
One of those is Randy Ko, a sophomore biochemistry major who will serve half a term, sitting in place for current senator Udell Calzadillas-Chavez, who will graduate in May. He said he hopes to make ASUNM more inclusive.
“I want to be able to bring information to the students rather than them having to go out and look for the information, and I have plans to do that and bring more people to the office,” Ko said.
The other new senator from the GO ASUNM slate is sophomore English major Olivia Padilla.
Hagengruber said that students can expect a visible ASUNM, focused on outreach and asking students what they want and working to make it a reality.
“I want to make sure that we’re all putting our best foot forward and working our hardest to make sure that the students understand that we are not a separate entity, that we are representing you,” she said.
David Lynch is a staff reporter at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo .com or on Twitter @RealDavidLynch.
