Leila Jones has been elected president of the Montclair State University Student Government Association (SGA) for the 2025-2026 academic year. She will succeed the 2024-2025 president, Mikayla Houston.
Jones secured the victory with 320 votes out of 787 undergraduate voters. Garret Gerow came in second place with 276 votes and Abigail Rodriguez placed third with 165 votes. Twenty abstained from voting and six voted no confidence.
Jones shares her reaction to being elected president for the upcoming year.
“I feel shocked but very grateful,” said Jones. “I was going against two amazing candidates, and I would’ve been happy no matter the outcome but I’m so grateful that [Montclair State] trusted in me to be their leader for the next year.”
Along with the election for SGA president, students elected their peers for the other positions within the SGA executive board. Those results are as follows:
- Carmela Beitler was elected as vice president;
- Danny Gonzalez was elected as executive treasurer;
- Edlyn Eugene was elected as executive secretary, and
- Ben Couslon was elected as justice.
Jones shares her next steps after securing the win.
“I’m looking forward to working with the [current] President Mikayla [Houston],” said Jones. “She has some great initiatives that she wanted to do last semester, and I would love to continue that.”
The official demographic report of students who voted includes 52% residential and 48% commuter students. The average age was 20.9 and the average GPA was 3.29.
Dinallo Heights is the residence hall with the most votes, counting 109 voters.
Jones gives her thoughts on the demographic breakdown and how that played a crucial role in her win.
“I am around [campus] all the time,” said Jones. “I’m always at the gym, I’m around the building, so I have a lot of connections in [Dinallo Heights], the recreation center as well.”
