How to win a USG office

Your friends. Your friends. Your friends. They are the most important part of a campaign because you cannot meet everyone on a 5,000-person campus. In a campus election, potential voters are more likely to support you if they have heard positive things about you. One challenge is branding yourself so people associate specific ideas and goals with your candidacy. Your friends are key because they can help others see you as they see you, and their genuine feelings for you are both earned and authentic.

It's difficult to know how many people to meet or how many emails to send. I found that postering, having friends campaign for me and launching a website were all so interconnected that they built on one another.

Running for USG President means campaigning door to door. You can feel like a nuisance knocking on random doors. After my first day of it, I started to carry a bag of pretzels and a bottle of Gatorade with me. It made me feel more relaxed, and I think it showed students that I was interested in sitting down for a few minutes and learning about their opinions in a thoughtful way. You want to demonstrate that you are interested in their concerns.

Meet as many people as you can, and try to enjoy the experience — there are few opportunities in life to meet new people just for the sake of meeting them. Who knew that room 102 in 1937 Hall would be where I met my girlfriend? No joke. I don't even know if she voted. The point is that the process itself can be rewarding, as can be working up the courage to talk to new people, even ones who are much prettier and cooler than you are (see above).