Elections Declare WSA Leadership and Senior Class Officers For ’26-27 Amid Low Voter Turnout

Following the annual voting for student representatives last week, the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) announced the winners of the 2026–27 presidential and vice-presidential election in an email to campus on Sunday, April 12. Andrea Herrera ’27 was elected WSA president with 51.23% of the vote and UsZee McKoy ’29 was elected WSA vice president with 54.24% of the vote, according to voting data provided by the WSA.

The race was more competitive than the previous year, when current WSA President Paul Quach ’26 won over Eric He ’28 with 73.31% of the vote. Voter turnout also suffered with 365 votes overall, less than half of total votes cast in last year’s election (768).

Current senators tried to explain this year’s drop in turnout. 

“I know people who believe that the WSA doesn’t do any substantive work and thus check out of WSA elections and events because of it,” Casey Dunning-Sorey ’28, a WSA senator on the Student Life Committee, wrote in a message to The Argus. “This is mostly a failing on the side of the WSA. If students are not feeling like we communicate the things that we do effectively with them then it is our job to evaluate that.”

Herrera was unsure about her chances leading up to the election, but she was pleasantly surprised at having the support of the student body. 

“I feel really grateful to have the student body’s trust, and I’m really excited to get to work with them to support them in every single one of their needs,” Herrera wrote in a statement to The Argus.

McKoy ran on a platform focused on fostering important conversations with students and administration on subjects like campus norms and public safety, especially following the voyeurism incident in the Nicolson bathrooms last semester.

“I want to make sure that our spaces on campus are safe,” McKoy said during the WSA presidential/vice-presidential debate on April 7. “When we’re talking about safety, I want it to be from the lens of actual, real public safety, not of punitive punishments, and not in ways that discriminate against anyone and also disregards people’s civil liberties or privacy.”

Current juniors also received ballots in their email regarding senior class-specific elections. Unlike the WSA election, each candidate ran unopposed. Ronald Ceesay ’27 was elected senior class president with 92% of the vote, Eli Liedtka ’27 was elected senior class vice president with 94%, Samantha Farrow ’27 was elected senior class treasurer with 96%, and Emiliano Leal ’27 was elected senior class secretary with 96%. The WSA reported only 50 votes cast in the senior class elections.

Ceesay joked about being the only candidate on the ballot in this year’s senior class elections, but still expressed enthusiasm at his selection.

“I’m proud to earn the trust of my peers in this remarkably competitive election,” Ceesay wrote in a message to The Argus. “My cabinet and I have some exciting plans for senior week and throughout the year so everyone should keep a lookout.”

Liedtka echoed the sentiment.

“I’m very excited to be representing the class of 2027 and seniors can rest assured that we’ll have plenty of fun events in the coming year,” Liedtka wrote in a message to The Argus. 

Anabel Goode can be reached at agoode@wesleyan.edu. 

Miles Craven can be reached at mcraven@wesleyan.edu.