At Westside, students in Government class are running for annual semester positions,  just like our candidates do today, for Congress, Senate, and President.  Students have learned that this is not an easy process and that the campaign comes with a wide variety of difficulties.

“Last semester I ran for congress,” Republican presidential candidate Matt Onken said.  “It’s [running for president that is] lot more work and you have to do a lot more fundraising. Everything is more expensive when you are having to put it out to everyone in the class and not just your small group when you are running for congress.  It’s way bigger and it’s pretty hard to deal with that.”

Democratic presidential candidate Sameer Siddiqui is facing similar same logistical challenges.

“Making sure I get everything done every week is pretty difficult,” Siddiqui said. “Especially when I have other people on my staff whose grade also depends on it, so we all are trying to get together to figure out what we have to do each week.”

Onken said he hopes to tackle issues such as gun rights and the economy with a hope to help small businesses thrive. He said that he thinks it is necessary that we find a “middle ground” on the issue of gun control. According to Onken, another difficulty with campaigning is winning over the people.

“I just want to show them that I am a good Republican,” Onken said. “[I am a] very traditional conservative and I don’t really have Trump-like ideals like some of the other candidates. I am very different from them and that is what I run on. That is most important” Onken said.

Siddiqui said he is running on a platform that is focusing mainly on healthcare reform, education reform, gun control, immigration, and environmental justice. However, he also faces the same challenge as Onken in gaining support from his peers.

“I am trying to be nice to everybody,” Siddiqui said. “I don’t have any specific plan but I am cool with a lot of people so it’s not that big of a deal. Talking to people and making sure they are voting for me is the biggest thing.”

As the election comes down to the wire, both candidates will have to fundraise, campaign, and preach there issues as they try to come on top and become the second semester president.