SGA President Candidate parts ways with vice president, fills position with another campaign member

Katie Brust, Student Government Association president candidate and Erin Weightman, Brust’s vice president, parted ways on Tuesday evening. Brust said the two parted after Weightman expressed interest in merging their campaign with other candidates. 

“While I respect the other candidates and I think that their platforms are good, I have a lot of pride in my campaign and what we have worked for the past few weeks and so I wanted to continue that with someone else,” Brust said. 

Brust will be continuing her campaign with Tallon Everson. 

Everson said he was already a member of Brust’s campaign. He was originally tasked with managing the campaign’s finances, helping out with signatures and any other logistical assistance the campaign needed.

Brust said Tallon was an easy hire. 

“As a fellow senator, (Tallon and I have) worked on things together and I have a lot of respect for him,” Brust said. 

Despite the new vice president, Brust said the message and approach of her campaign will remain unchanged. 

“Nothing is going to change about my campaign. I’m still very much here for the same reasons and I’m looking forward to running with Tallon,” Brust said. “As a fellow senator, we’ve worked on things together and I have a lot of respect for him.” 

Everson said he and Brust could attract a variety of voters.

“I’m just really excited to try to help her achieve the things her campaign is trying to achieve,” Everson said. “We appeal to different groups in a way so I think that will help pull in more people to get involved with the campaign.”

Brust said Weightman “has every right to choose whatever campaign she wishes to support.”

Weightman emailed a statement to The Volante, explaining her decision.

“After much thought and reflection I have decided to resign as a vice presidential candidate,” Weightman wrote. “Instead I want to focus my energy on running for Senate. At this time I am not joining any campaign team.”

The separation between the two still surprised Brust, she said.

“It’s a bit of a shock, but I’m also just looking forward and going to do everything I can to continue my campaign and my platform that I believe strongly in,” Brust said.