Junior political communication major Ethan Lynne will make the leap from the Student Government Association’s vice president in 2024-2025 to president in 2025-2026 after voters elected him to the George Washington University’s top student leadership position, elections officials announced Saturday afternoon.
Lynne won 60.53% of the vote for SGA’s highest seat, according to the Joint Elections Commission’s unofficial results. The Ashland, Va., native secured 1,468 of the 2,510 votes cast. After spending this current academic year serving as outgoing president Ethan Fitzgerald’s vice president, Lynne is eager to use the knowledge gained from that position to advocate on behalf of his fellow students.
Highly visible around campus at many functions as vice president, Lynne was ecstatic when his name was read as the winner in front of a packed University Student Center Amphitheater on the USC’s third floor, securing him another opportunity at an even higher capacity to represent his peers.
“It feels so unbelievable. I mean, if you had told me when I first toured here that this is where I'd be sitting as a junior, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Lynne said. “To have so many students put their faith and trust in me to advocate for their concerns is just awesome.”
Lynne has been heavily involved at the university since he arrived on campus in fall 2022. He was the student president of Thurston Hall during his first year, and as a sophomore served as student president of Shenkman Hall. Also, as a sophomore, Lynne represented the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) as an undergraduate SGA senator, where he also chaired the finance committee.
His first message as president-elect of the GW student body is for members of its community to contact him, get in touch and make their voices heard so he can help amplify them even more.
“I want to talk to all of you, I want to meet all of you,” Lynne said. “I can’t wait to be your voice.”
Sophomore Liz Stoddard will assume Lynne’s current role in the next academic year as she won the vice presidency with 62.39% of the vote, securing 1,394 of 2,508 votes cast.
Stoddard, a political science major from Delco, Pa., is currently an undergraduate CCAS senator from CCAS. As SGA’s pro tempore, she worked closely with Lynne and engaged in plenty of SGA duties, preparing her technically, socially and politically to assume the vice presidency role next school year.
She wanted to run for the second highest SGA position because she thought she had something to offer, as her previous roles in SGA were more about putting her head down and doing the work. She is looking forward to expanding that no pomp, no circumstance effort-based approach to her new role, where she is eager to stand up for all students.
“I wanted to bring that no-nonsense but compassionate value system to the SGA,” she said.
Like Lynne, her reaction to election results Saturday afternoon was one of joy—and some relief to see the work she put into her campaign had paid off.
“It's a crazy feeling. I'm so incredibly grateful,” she said. “I'm a little overwhelmed, but it's amazing.”
Here are the complete unofficial results from the Joint Elections Commission.
