2023-2024 Presiding Officers

Governor Nikolas DelVecchio
Lt. Governor Tyler Trowbridge
Chief Justice Mary Duenzl
Senate Pro Tempore Olivia Phillips
Speaker of Assembly Freedom Rafay Cheema
Speaker of Assembly Liberty Joshua Schultzer
Deputy Pro Tempore of Senate Liberty Olivia Pustelnik
Deputy Pro Tempore of Senate Freedom Victoria Basharina
Deputy Speaker of Assembly Liberty Jason Alexopoulos
Deputy Speaker of Assembly Freedom Mathew Reis
Attorney-General Riley Bent
Public Defender Alice Chen
Editor-In-Chief Ila Hubert

2024-2025 Presiding Officer Application

Candidate Info

Running for a candidate position can allow students to become more engaged in the conference. Students eligible for running for office must follow all rules and expectations before, during, and after state conference. Students running for an elected position must agree to the candidate agreement statement in the Nomination Form. Candidates must submit a photo to be displayed with their candidate profile in the bill book. For each presiding officer position, there are rules and regulations for running. There is a limit of one Candidate for each office per School or District, whichever is larger. Below are the descriptions for each position.

Please be aware that there are changes to the Presiding officer candidates and elections that will go into effect for the 2024-25 presiding officer team. Therefore, if you are running in the elctions at the 2024 conference, you are adhering to the rules below.

Elections

All presiding officer positions will be voted at the state conference for the following year. Elections are presided over by the Secretary of State. Below is the breakdown of who votes in what election and where candidates give election speeches.

General Election:
Who is running: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Comptroller
Who can vote: General election(whole conference)
When are speeches: Saturday Evening
Voting Procedure: Delegates will vote for their top candidate for each office, with the highest vote totals being elected to each office.

Legislative Presiding Officers:
Who is running: Speaker of Assembly Liberty and Freedom and President Pro Tempore of Senate Liberty and Freedom
Who can vote: Legislative delegates in that chamber. For instance, only delegates in Assembly Liberty can vote for the Assembly Liberty delegate.
When: Saturday afternoon
Voting Procedure: Delegates in each chamber will vote for their top two candidates for office, with the candidate recieving the highest vote total being elected to serve as Speaker or President and the candidate recieving the second most votes in each chamber serving as their deputy.

Judicial Presiding Officers:
Who is running: Chief Justice and Public Defender
Who can vote: Judicial delegates
When: Sunday morning
Voting Procedure: Judicial delegates will vote for their top candidate for each office, with the candidate having the highest vote totals being elected.

Editor in Chief:
Who can vote: Press delegates
Voting Procedure: Press delegates will vote for their top candidate for the office, with the candidate having the highest vote totals being elected.

All candidates running for a presiding officer position will write and present an election speech. Speeches are intended to be a demonstration of your understanding of the position, what characteristics/previous experiences make you qualified for the position, and what you would do in this position. Governor and Chief Justice election speeches can be up to 4 minutes. All other candidate speeches can be up to 3 minutes.

Candidates during the general election (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Comptroller) will be given a series of questions written by the Editor in Chief and Secretary of State. Governor will be asked 2 questions while all other positions will be asked 1 questions.

Supporting Officers: Cabinet

Cabinet is part of the executive branch and is a supporting officer. The Governor’s Cabinet is the top advisory group to the Governor. Cabinet members are required to debate the merits of legislation that has passed through the Senate and Assembly Chambers. The debate generated by the cabinet is used as persuasive argument to influence the Governor’s decision to sign or veto a piece of legislation. Reports from the Cabinet are given to the legislative chambers to inform participants in each chamber of the status of legislation. All members of the cabinet are required to attend the February steering conference, trainings throughout the year, and Thursday of the State conference. 

Cabinet Members for 2023-2024 are
Secretary to the Governor: Antonio Cortes
Secretary of State: Kenzie Clark
Comptroller: William Rappold
Superintendent of Financial Services: Nicholas Cacas
Chairperson of Empire State Development: Grace Hoglund
Chairperson NYS Public Service Commission: Gabriella Rhaklin
Commissioner of Transportation: Haley Labreque
Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets: Rachael Strickland
Commissioner of Taxation and Finance: Valencia Massaro
Commissioner of Education: Owen Epstein
Commissioner of Health: Sanaya Spruell
Commissioner of Environmental Conservation: Kaitlyn Corn
Commissioner of Correctional Services: Deni Menendez
Commissioner of Labor: Hannah Bouwens
Commissioner of Family Services: Ana Cole

Applications to be part of the Cabinet are released during the summer before the program year. If you are interested in being part of the cabinet, apply here for 2024-2025.

Supporting Officer: Committee Chair

Committee chairs are part of the legislative branch and a supporting officer at the State conference. Committee chairs preside over the committees on Friday at the conference. All committee chairs must understand the legislative process, have a firm understanding of parliamentary procedure, and be a leader demonstrating the Y 4 core values throughout the program.

Students interested in being a committee chair must speak to their delegation advisor. All committee chairs are required to attend the February steering conference, trainings throughout the year, and Thursday of the State conference. 

Committee chair members for 2023-2024 will be selected at the local level