UF progressives eclipsed in student government elections

The University of Florida’s progressive Change Party lost in recent student government elections.

Following the elections, the Vision Party will have 69 student Senate seats, significantly outnumbering the Change Party’s 29, as reported by the Alligator.

The Vision Party also won positions of executive leadership in student government, including the positions of student body president, vice president, and treasurer.

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Commenting on the loss, Change Party Deputy Minority Leader, Max Banach, told Campus Reform that “[a]t the end of the day, turnout is a major factor that determines elections. There was a confluence of events last spring largely in favor of Change: org funding, DEI changes, recent Gator scandals, etc. Those same conditions were not there in the same capacity this spring.”
“Our party president Connor Panish put it best when he said that every party and political movement has its ebbs and flows, and with every peak—with us winning a majority of seats in the two elections prior to Gerrymandering—comes a trough.,” said Banach.”

“The vision party . . .  is able to solicit votes from chapter members through a structure of incentives and ‘horse-trading,’” he added.

Change’s party platform includes “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” “Sustainability,” and “Transportation & Safety,” as seen on its Instagram.

The party also previously released a petition that urged the school to “[u]pdate the current map of gender neutral bathrooms and increase the number of gender neutral bathrooms to at least one per building.”

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A resolution previously introduced and passed by the Change Party, which the bill text claims is supported by Florida State Representative Anna Eskamani, states that “the University of Florida Student Senate calls upon Florida Lawmakers to take action to address the climate crisis in an urgent manner and to adopt a Green New Deal for the State of Florida,” as Campus Reform previously reported.

Banach expressed optimism about the future, telling Campus Reform: “This just lights a stronger fire in the hearts of all changemakers as we come close to summer term and the next elections forthcoming.”