Sorry for my long silence: I’ve been a bit occupied.

Good news: I won my Senate seat! I’ll get a chance to pursue the issues I think are important, and hold the Swamp / Gator parties accountable. Thanks very much to everyone who supported me. Together, we’ve proven that students do, in fact, care.

Bad news: The rest of the Unite Party did not do as well as I. Our candidates for Student Body President and Vice President lost; we won only 13 of 46 open Senate seats, with a 14th tied and to be decided by vote of the Senate. There are some questions about the validity of the vote, however; we’ll see. I’ll comment more on this as the situation progresses.

What’s left: And what’s been occupying me since I heard the results on Wednesday night: Our candidate for Student Body Treasurer, Lola Bovell, is headed to a run-off election. Voting will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, at the same locations and time as last week.

I am behind Lola 100%. From all my interactions with Lola, she’s impressed me with her character. Lola is one of those people who inspires love and admiration in the people she meets, and I’d be proud to have her as my treasurer. Furthermore, she has a commitment to making students’ money work for students: her budget plan outlines how to cut more than $120,000 in wasteful SG administrative spending — dollars that can be returned to student organizations and services. And, by the way, she has the opportunity to be UF’s first Hispanic Student Body Treasurer in a decade.

So I’ve been working for Lola this past week. I’d love to celebrate my victory, and start planning how to fulfill my promises in a hostile Senate, but I’ve got a run-off to win. So I’ll be out there the next few days, working to win it for Lola. And I won’t be done until the last ballot is cast on Wednesday.