By “I’m excited. I’m nervous, but I wanted to get dressed up just in case the results go in my favor,” political science and economics major Sonny Ciampa said moments before winning the election and becoming the 2025-26 ASI president-elect.
Excitement and nerves could be seen not only on Ciampa’s face, but also among the other student candidates running for ASI positions this semester at Long Beach State.
Ciampa will be joined by Executive Vice President-elect Shelton King Jr. and Vice President-elect of Finance Kim Nguyen as the heads of ASI’s executive branch.
To avoid the rain, the 2025 ASI Elections Results Party was moved from the South Plaza into the Stuart L. Farber Senate Chambers. The candidates were joined by several other students and faculty members, all awaiting the results.
The current ASI Vice President of Finance, Andre Achacon, welcomed the student body before passing the microphone to the Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students, Jeff Klaus, who hosted the event.
Associate Vice President and Executive Director of Student Auxiliary Enterprises Miles Nevin (left) is joined by Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Jeff Klaus (middle) and ASI Vice President of Finance Andre Achacon (right) to kick off the 2025 ASI Elections Results Party on Thursday, March 13. Photo credit: Khoury Williams
“Regardless of the outcome, kudos to all the candidates for taking on this challenge,” Klaus said. “You have worked incredibly hard engaging with students and gathering feedback to help shape your goals for the next academic year.”
He announced that 3,532 students voted in this year’s ASI elections, the same exact number of students who participated in voting during last year’s elections.
However, due to the increased student population for the current academic year, only 8.91% of the student population voted, compared to last year’s 9.32%.
Here are the full results of the 2025-26 ASI general elections:
The College of the Arts Senator and College of Natural Sciences Senator positions are still open. |
As soon as his name was called as the ASI president-elect, Ciampa started pumping his fist and jumping up out of his seat. He received congratulatory hugs and handshakes from his fellow candidates and peers.
Newly elected senators for the College of Engineering, Zach Fowler and Fahim Shaikh, shake hands and celebrate together after hearing their names called during the ASI Elections Reveal Party on Thursday, March 13. Photo credit: Khoury Williams
Following the results party, the Long Beach Current interviewed the new ASI executive cabinet members. Ciampa said his first act as ASI president will include speaking with other universities to discuss resources under threat due to U.S. Department of Education funding cuts.
“They [U.S. Department of Education] are trying to cut our budget, and so I want to make sure that students still have an education coming into the fall,” Ciampa said. “With financial aid getting taken away and everything else, how can we have an education if we don’t have the resources?”
While the future of financial aid and student loans remains uncertain under U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, students can still apply for FAFSA for the upcoming 2025-26 academic year by June 30.
Unlike last year’s election, which saw current ASI president Nikki Majidi win alongside her entire joint ticket she campaigned with, this year’s winners were all split. However, Ciampa still shares excitement in working with his elected cabinet members.
“I love Shelton. I’m really excited to work with Shelton,” Ciampa said. “His platform is great, he was strong from the beginning and I think Shelton is going to be a great partner.”
Ciampa said he still plans to work with his running mate, Alex Lopez, who lost to King Jr. by nearly 300 votes.
“I feel great, albeit it wasn’t exactly the results we could have wished for, but to have been able to have stood by a candidate and now have a year with someone who I can say has our best interest at heart, I am very happy that I was able to work alongside [Ciampa],” Lopez said.
Attendees erupt in applause as political science and economics major Sonny Ciampa is announced as the 2025-26 ASI president-elect during the Elections Reveal Party on Thursday, March 13. Photo credit: Khoury Williams
Lopez’s opponent, King Jr., ran his campaign with the promise of “fixing” student parking lot issues at CSULB. King Jr. was shocked to learn that 1,321 students voted for him during the election.
“Now I gotta do what I promised—I gotta fix parking,” King Jr. said.
Nguyen was the only candidate running for the vice president of finance position and received 99% of the total student votes with one person abstaining.
When speaking to students while campaigning, Nguyen discovered students were misinformed regarding the availability of several resources, including student grants and research funds. She said she plans to ensure students know what they can access.
“I want [students] to be able to utilize campus resources and funds as much as they can, so outreach will be my first goal,” Nguyen said. “I initially considered running for this position because I had issues finding out all these resources myself, and I want to help students learn how to navigate through these resources.”
