Garcia and Heiden outspent opposition four-to-one

The Blanca Garcia-Krista Heiden campaign for president and vice president of the Student Government Association spent more than their opponents, Hannah Kurtzweil and Samantha Cook, by a margin of more than four-to-one.The Garcia-Heiden campaign spent a total of $720.61, which translates to $1.75 for every vote that they accrued, whereas the Kurtzweil-Cook campaign spent a total of $183.39, which translates to about 75 cents for every vote the campaign received.

Garcia and Heiden won the election with 67 percent of the vote.

“The money isn’t just about winning the campaign, it’s about setting the tone for next year,” Campaign Manager Celso Baez said. “It wasn’t just about winning the election, it was an investment in the future.

Baez went into the campaign with prior experience in campaign work. He works at Stanley Garrison and Associates, a political consulting firm, as a campaign finance manager.

Donations to the Garcia-Heiden campaign, from a total of twelve people, amounted to $375. The campaign is also expecting several donations that have already been pledged to help pay off money each candidate spent from their own personal finances.

“We were expecting to spend the money,” Baez said. “We saw it as a great opportunity not only to spend a lot of money, but to raise a lot of money. We think that raising money from students represents legitimacy and buy-in on the students’ behalf.”

Few of the donations, though, came from students not associated with SGA. But Baez said fund raising efforts forced the campaign to reach out to students, which was a key campaign issue for Garcia and Heiden.

“It was really hard to get students to donate money,” Baez said. “I tried designing a fund raising letter, but it was more aesthetically pleasing to political students. I’d say that letter was more important to getting endorsements from student organizations.”

During the campaign, the Garcia-Heiden campaign was reprimanded for negative campaigning. While speaking to the Unity Coalition, campaign staffer Zachary Peal said Kurtzweil would be “a puppet” for the university’s administration.

Because of Peal’s statement, Elections Commissioner Margot Cromack lowered the maximum the Garcia-Heiden campaign could spend by $150.

Baez said the campaign ultimately decided to keep Peal on staff after he apologized, despite the negative remarks.

“He was crucial to keeping momentum,” Baez said. “He was a great strategist. When the Elections Commissioner proposed an alternative sanction, which included dismissing Zac Peal from the campaign, we just saw it as a harsh alternative.”

Despite the lowered limit, Garcia and Heiden still set a new spending record. Last fall, SGA raised the limit that each candidate could spend. The limits for each candidate went from $200 to $500, meaning that collectively, both campaigns could have spent up to $1,000.

The Kurtzweil-Cook campaign did not report receiving any outside donations. Kurtzweil and Cook also only used self-funded campaign finances for posters, art supplies and photographs while the Garcia-Heiden campaign purchased a variety of posters and cards as well as food for socials with students.

Kurtzweil and Cook also did not begin campaigning until several days after the election had begun because Kurtzweil was out of town. 

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