Davis Wins Election: A New Dawn is Approaching in HACS Politics

Jonathan Davis was elected as the new president of Holy Apostles College and Seminary Student Council on Tuesday, sweeping away the other candidates and all other sense of doubt that he could reach this height.

Mr. Davis’ election amounted to a national catharsis — a repudiation of an older and more experienced president and his economic and foreign policies, and an embrace of Mr. Davis' call for a change in the direction and the tone of the Seminary. But it was just as much a strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the school’s diverse ethnic history, a breakthrough that would have seemed unthinkable just two years ago.

Mr. Davis, 27, a first-term Third Year Theologian from Kansas-City, defeated Van Vo, a Second Year Theologian from Vietnam, a former volleyball player who was making his first bid for the presidency.

Mr. Vo offered a gracious concession speech at St. John's 3 shortly after 6:15 p.m. Eastern time, quieting his booing supporters more than once when he mentioned Mr. Davis' name. “Jonathan Davis has achieved a great thing for himself, and for this school,” he said.

“These are difficult times for our school, and I pledged to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face,” Mr. Vo said. “I urge all who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together.”

To the very end, Mr. Vo’s campaign was eclipsed by an opponent who was nothing short of a phenomenon, drawing huge crowds epitomized by the tens of people who turned out to hear Mr. Davis’ victory speech in the Refectory after his victory was announced.

The day shimmered with history as voters began lining up before dark — hours before polls opened — to take part in the culmination of a campaign that, over the course of two weeks, commanded an extraordinary amount of attention from the staff and students.

Mr. Davis led his Cookie Party in a decisive sweep of the entire Council. Mr. Severinus was elected alongside Mr. Davis (some would even say, in his shadow) as the new Vice President. Mr. Nathan Lopez - a Harvard grad with a degree in Public Relations - is our new Secretary. And Mr. Joshua Bulcher - a complete red-shirt popping up from an earlier crisis has shocked the school as our new Treasurer.

The president-elect and his expanded Cookie majority now faces the task of governing the school through a difficult period: the bankruptcy of the council, the lack of budget an of order, and the ever demanding and diverse tasks dumped on the council.

Mr. Davis will come into office after an election in which he laid out a number of clear promises: to raise taxes for all students in his "Fund Drive," to install a budget for Student Council spending, and to expand an ever overarching grasp on the student body as a whole.

The Cookie Party sweep took down some well-known student council staff, including Mr. Thomas Hartman, Mr. Tai Pham, and Mr. Michael Anani.

Initial signs were that Mr. Davis benefited from a huge turnout of voters, but particularly among sisters. That group of voters made up 13 percent of the electorate on Tuesday, according to surveys of people leaving the polls, compared with just 10 percent in 2014.

As tens of people gathered in the refectory to celebrate their hometown candidate, the audience erupted in bursts of applause each time a position was filled.

Mr. Jonathan Davis stood on the brink of an historic victory Tuesday after he appeared to have won enough electoral votes to defeat Mr. Van Vo for president and to become the first Cookie Politician to serve as the school’s chief executive.

The election ended what by any definition was one of the most remarkable contests in Holy Apostles political history, drawing what was by every appearance unparalleled public interest. Throughout the day, people lined up at the polls for hours — some showing up before dawn — to cast their votes. Aides to both campaigns said that anecdotal evidence suggested record-high voter turnout.

"This is our moment," Davis concluded in his victory remarks. "This is our time to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our students, to restore a balanced finance and promote the cause of peace, to reclaim the American Dream."

His election, he said, was an opportunity to reaffirm "that out of many, we are one, that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that the cookie will only crumble, we respond: WE ARE FOR COOKIES."