Associated Students Inc. presidential candidate Nikki Majidi was announced as the new president-elect, winning alongside the entire joint ticket she ran with, including executive vice president Matt Melendrez and vice president of finance Andre Achacon.
With black and gold streamers in hand, dozens of students and faculty gathered around the University Student Union South Plaza to clap and cheer on the winners announced during the ASI Elections Reveal Party on March 21.
Hosted in collaboration with ASI and Beach Pride Events, ASI Government Elections and Recruitment Assistant Josephine Nguyen grabbed the focus of the crowd to thank them and introduce them to the flow of the event.
She was followed by Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Jeff Klaus, who took to the stage as the master of ceremonies.
Klaus said 3,532 students voted in ASI’s general elections and thanked students and ASI for the work they did leading up to the reveal party.
“The voice of the students is so important,” Klaus said. “Many of the great initiatives and changes that occur on this university are because of the voices and ideas of the students, so we really applaud all the effort that [ASI] did to connect with all the students around the campus.”
Here are the full results for the 2024 ASI general elections:
- President – Nikki Majidi
- Executive Vice President – Matt Melendrez
- Vice President of Finance – Andre Achacon
- Senator at-Large – Sonny Ciampa, Katherine Erian, Carlos Orozco, Larissa Santos and Lexi Thicksten
- Trustee at-Large – Laura Camacho and Saniya Debose
- Senator, College of the Arts – Dylan Garcia
- Senator, College of Business – Pranvat Kaur
- Senator, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics – Christina Do and Richie Pham
- Senator, College of Health and Human Services – Mannat Tiwana
- Senator, College of Engineering – Andrew Paredes
- Senator, College of Liberal Arts – Nicholas Nieto and Isaac Obert
The vote count for president-elect went through three rounds of close run-offs, with Majidi beating out candidate Johnny Baeza by 66 votes in the final tally.
The Daily Forty-Niner interviewed ASI’s new executive cabinet following the reveal party. Majidi said she looks forward to serving Long Beach State’s student body as president-elect.
“I feel eternally grateful. I really really hope that I won’t let down the student population,” Majidi said. “My motto is, with my friends, that I’m for the people and I want to be for the people of Long Beach and honestly. I’m so honored to have been chosen.”
Achacon said he feels privileged to have won the election alongside Majidi and Melendrez and is eager to continue working with them to move the Long Beach State community forward.
“Nikki, Matt and I, we know that there’s issues on campus. We’ve heard the concerns from students…we’re trying our hardest to address these issues and we hope that we can build the relationship between ASI and the larger Cal-State Long Beach student community,” Achacon said. “The relationship is missing and we will do our best to work on that.”
Melendrez is happy to be elected along with his ticket but said they must get together and address the needs of the students.
“It’s time to start working to make sure that we get students on board and making sure they feel heard,” Melendrez said.
As the general elections come to a close, Nguyen will be working with ASI to recruit students for any vacant positions in late April.
“That includes positions like any unfilled Senator or trustee at large positions and positions for our lobby care, judiciary and our presidential cabinet,” Nguyen said. “The senator and trustee positions are voted on by students but all other positions go through an interview process.”
