David Boggs and Oscar Martinez withdrew from the SGA Presidential race Sunday night, saying that they “never really wanted to win.” Later that night, they independently explained their reasoning in a long series of text messages, which have been mildly edited for content and clarity below.
Voting for the President and Vice President of next year’s SGA opens at 9 a.m. on March 28.
Why are you two dropping out of the race?
Martinez: “We never really wanted to win. With the possibility of winning at hand, we decided that the best course of action was to drop out so as to mitigate this risk.”
Boggs: “We dropped out because we realized we had an actual shot at winning and we didn’t want to take the risk. We don’t want to be part of the SGA atmosphere.”
How would you describe the SGA atmosphere, as two individuals who have been a part of it in the past?
Boggs: “This is speaking just for me. I’d prefer not to comment on the specifics, but I’ll just say that I disagree with the way a lot of SGA is run and I’d prefer to not return to it.”
Why did you run for President and Vice President in the first place if you didn’t want to return to that atmosphere?
Boggs: “We wanted to bring attention to the problems with the system. Running in this election and stirring the pot like we did was the best way to do that.”.”
Martinez: “We simply wanted to bring attention to the issues at hand. We felt that the election as a whole attracts a lot of publicity, and decided that the best medium to attract attention to said issues was the election. Judging by the coverage the election received, I don’t think we chose poorly.”
Is there one team that you will publicly endorse?
Boggs: “I never thought I’d say this, but McKay/Scherf… Quite frankly cause she’s the only one with the balls to make any real changes to the way things are done. Her principals [sic] are most in line with what I believe. She’s by no means the perfect candidate, but she’s easily best for the position out of the remaining candidates.”
Martinez: “Can my response go off the record?”
Well, that defies the point of publicly endorsing…
Martinez: “Haha, true enough. I’m more than likely going to vote for Aaron (Scherf and Elizabeth McKay). I believe that his ticket is most likely to follow through with their promises. In the end, that’s what counts.”
Boggs and Martinez drop out of SGA Presidential race the night before the election begins
