On Monday, April 21, a Carleton Student Association (CSA) email blast went out to all students informing them of the results of elections held over the weekend. Many races were uncontested, but a few had some stiff competition. Among those was the office of CSA President, who serves on the executive team and oversees all CSA operations including meeting with administration and conducting CSA Senate meetings. This race had three candidates on the ballot and was expected to be close, but no one could predict the name written in that fateful CSA Executives email.
“It was kind of a joke, really,” said Ima Voter ’28. “A part of me was thinking ‘how cool would it be if Pete Buttigieg won CSA president? Would he just have to stay on campus after his speech next week?’ but I obviously never thought it was going to happen.”
It turned out that former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg garnered just over 70% of the vote, as nearly 3/4 of voters (a population made up of 53% of all students) wrote in the former presidential candidate as a joke, thinking they were sooooo original and quirky and no one else would do it.
“I just really wanted to stick it to the man, you know?” said Anne Attenshin-Seaker ’29. “Everyone kept saying ‘you have to vote, you have to vote!’ so I did just that. And look where we are! Who said third-party candidates never win! And here we are, electing a fourth-party!”
Given Buttigieg’s appearance on campus on April 28, students are excited to meet their new president but some are wary that he won’t exactly be committed to the position.
“I voted for Pete because I thought we wouldn’t need to worry about him being caught up with classes or clubs or things like that,” said Polly Ticks ’27. “But then I heard from a friend that he was planning on running for PRESIDENT president and now I’m not really sure. At least Minnesota is kind of a swing state so he’ll have to visit us sometime, right?”
CSA contacts close to the Carletonian report that election results were somewhat disputed, as about 90% of Buttigieg voters could not spell the former mayor of South Bend, IN’s last name correctly. But because of his support on such a massive scale, entries like Bootiejeg, Buteegej and “Butgiejeg? Idk the gay guy from the democrat thing” were all accepted. Even a Mayor Pete was allowed through.
Buttigieg’s press office has not responded to the many emails from CSA executives about the candidate’s new role. He has been told he is expected to appear at the next CSA Senate meeting on April 27, but The Carletonian Decision Desk cannot project whether or not he will actually be there.
