Max Alder wins USUSA Presidential election by eight votes
With an eight-vote difference granting him the win, current USUSA Executive Vice President and the Junction-enthusiast Max Alder is the USUSA president for the 2026-27 school year.
Alder has become notorious on campus for his bright baby-blue suit he has worn while campaigning for the past two years.
“I didn’t want to just do, like, a boring black suit or something that everybody else has, and originally, it was actually going to be tan, and then somebody told me, ‘No, don’t do tan. That’s boring,’” Alder said. “So, I found a blue suit on Amazon that was like $80, and I said, ‘That looks nice, and it’s cheap enough.’”
Alder comes from an Aggie family and said he has always wanted to attend Utah State University. He was born in Cache Valley and moved away but said he wanted to come back when he graduated high school.
“I originally came here as an economics major, and then spring semester my freshman year, I also added finance, and I haven’t regretted that decision one bit since I got here,” Alder said.
On top of the double major, he found himself involved in various student organizations, such as the Government Relations Council, the Student Alumni Association and the A-Team. He also competed as Mr. Greek in the 2025 Mr. USU Pageant.
Alder holds various leadership positions in the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, making him the fourth consecutive USUSA president to come from this fraternity.
He said much of his involvement was inspired by 2023-24 USUSA President Abe Rodriguez. He recounted a time when the two got dinner together.
“He told me about the A-Team. That’s when he told me about SigEp, and that’s when he basically — we walked out, and he’s like, ‘You’re going to run for exec VP next year,’ and everything we talked about in that conversation has come to fruition, and it’s amazing to look back on that,” Alder said.
Among other notable influences, Alder also mentioned support from 2024-25 USUSA President Matt Richey was extremely influential in his campaign.
Alder was supported by his campaign manager, Halle Hart, who is currently serving as the USUSA Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services Senator.
“I wanted to be part of his campaign because I wanted to help him continue making a difference for students,” Hart wrote in an email to The Utah Statesman.
Hart further explained the role of an election campaign manager in the USUSA Elections.
“Being a campaign manager in these elections involved making sure the entire campaign ran smoothly and stayed on track. For me, that meant making sure Max felt supported and had someone to talk ideas through with,” Hart wrote. “My role also involved keeping everything organized behind the scenes so that Max could focus on connecting with students and sharing his ideas.”
The election results were announced at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25. The results elicited a lot of emotion from the crowd, which was met with mixed reactions on social media.
USU student Will Baggett wrote the top-liked comment on the Statesman Instagram post announcing the results, which stated, “Bro you doing too much.” At the time of writing, this comment has received 1,451 likes. Another USU student, Ethan McGregor, commented, “Didn’t realize it was this serious.”
Among these, there were also comments of support from members of neighboring student associations Utah Valley University and Utah Tech University that stated “congratulations” and “congrats max.”
When asked, Alder explained the legacy he hopes to leave behind after serving as USUSA president.
“There are a few student body presidents that we talk about all the time, and we talk about them because they went above and beyond in their position,” Alder said. “I think there’s a million ways to be a good officer and a good president, and I want to go so above and beyond that I’m talked about when I’m gone for the good work I did for the students and the good work I did for the university.”