By Brandon Goodwin and Taylor Moak

After a month of upsets, Student Government elections proved to be the exception.

SG President Ryan Smith and Vice-President Kelsey Hayes sealed their bid for a second term on Thursday, winning the 2010-2011 Student Government Election.

Smith is the first incumbent president to win reelection since Rachel Watts in 2003. Watts was elected after the university saw back-to-back impeachments of SG presidents.

The Smith/Hayes campaign received 1,972 votes, Haag/Colgate received 1,029 votes and Harding/Minstein received 259.

Michael Haag and Julie Colgate ran a contested campaign compared to years past, said biology senior Ian Holbrook.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see a close race, but I would be surprised if people wanted a change from last year,” Holbrook said.

Accounting sophomore John Baldock supported Smith and Hayes since the beginning of the year.

“I’ve been campaigning and working really hard for Smith/Hayes this year,” Baldock said. “And when I met Ryan, he seemed really genuine.”

John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins received one of the largest write-in vote totals in recent history with 84 votes.

With interest being lower in the election than in previous years, outcomes generally favor the incumbent, said James Chapman, comptroller for SG.

Education junior Maddie Willis was not at all surprised to see Smith and Hayes come up on top.

“If they didn’t win, I would have been shocked,” Willis said. “My jaw would have touched the ground.”

“It is a huge honor to serve the University of Kentucky for one year, much less two,” Smith said. “We are humbled and looking forward to implementing the agenda Kelsey and I made last year.”

Every election can have one of two endings. For Haag and Colgate, the end of the Student Government elections was not what they wanted.

When the election results were announced Thursday, Haag and Colgate learned they lost to Ryan Smith and Kelsey Hayes by 943 votes.

Watson Harding and Solange Minstein came in third with 259 votes.

Haag and Colgate announced their intention to run on March 3 at W.T. Young Library and have used the last month to campaign.

In addition to Haag’s and Colgate’s candidacies for president and vice president, the Haag-Colgate ticket had candidates for senators-at-large and college senators.

Tommy Sharpe, a freshman senate-at-large candidate with Haag-Colgate, said the campaign had been run well.

“We’ve all worked together,” Sharpe said. “It’s been a great bonding experience.”

Luebab Ahmed, candidate for Business and Economics senator, said  Haag and Colgate helped the others on their ticket.

“Julie and Mike have been inspiring to everyone running,” Ahmed said. “I have no regrets, I’m glad I did it.”

Candidates said the weather had also been helpful for campaigning.

“The weather was good,” said Stella Wademi, a sophomore senate-at-large candidate. “(It made) people more willing to stop and talk to me.”

Though the campaign went well, Haag and Colgate did not have the results they wanted.

Still, Haag said either way the election turned out, it had been a good experience.

“I did my campaign the fair way,” Haag said. “I followed the rules.

“I’m still the same man I was.”