Senior in business management Bobby Hager spent the majority of the day Tuesday campaigning. But he wasn’t running for any on-campus position. He was running for either mayor or town commissioner of Apex.

“If I actually got elected, I’d be mayor next year,” Hager said. “I graduate in December.”

Hager decided to run for the positions Monday after realizing the current incumbent officials were running uncontested. And though he would be happy with either position, he seems to be focusing more on that of mayor.

Jonathan Lea, president and fellow member of Pi Lambda Phi, said Hager is genuine in his pursuit of a public position in Apex.

“It might seem like a joke to everyone, but he’s actually serious,” Lea, senior in engineering, said. “If he does win, which is a long shot, he’s actually going to be mayor, as silly as that seems.”

But Lea said Hager does have tenets to his platform, such as installing a pedestrian walkway across I-64, and though he may not have the inside view of Apex’s problems, Lea is sure Hager could adapt.

“Bobby’s a hard worker, so he’ll probably figure everything out and go for it,” Lea said.

And though Lea said Hager’s decision was last-minute, he said once Hager made the decision, he quickly got to work carrying it out. He printed out about 1,200 fliers and headed to a voting precinct to begin campaigning and fielding questions. And that precinct just happened to be the current mayor’s own polling place.

However, according to Hager, he was unable to get his name on the ballot due to his last-minute decision. And while he knows he’d have a better chance if his name was on the ballot, he said he is hoping to at least make a showing in the race.

“It would be an easier write-in, and it’s a little smaller city,” he said. “I know I’d be insanely overwhelmed if I tried to go for Raleigh.”

In addition to being a smaller place, Hager said he heard the voter turnout for local elections in Apex is generally low. Last year about 150 people participated, so he figured, “Why not? Why not try to get them to write me in instead?”

Hager said he figured running would at least make people aware of the candidate situation.

“At least maybe people will come out and vote or run next time,” he said.

And Hager said there are a few people from Apex he knows did vote for him.

One of these people, sophomore in materials science and engineering Thomas Greenhalgh, said he thought Hager’s decision to run was a good example of the American democratic system at work.

“If he wants to run, he should have the right to run,” Greenhalgh said. “If he gets enough people behind him and he runs a good campaign, I think there’s a chance.”

And though the people of Apex may be in for a shock when they realize Hager is a student, Greenhalgh said he feels Hager is more than capable.

“Obviously he has the credentials to be mayor. He has the drive to do it,” Greenhalgh said. “If you have the motivation to do it, then obviously you have the dedication and probably the intelligence to do it. I have confidence in him.”

However, there are some obstacles in Hager’s way. According to the current Mayor Keith Weatherly, to serve as mayor of Apex one must be a resident. Hager lives in Raleigh, right across from North Campus in the Pi Lambda Phi house on Chamberlain Street. But Weatherly said it would ultimately be up to the Board of Elections to decide how to handle the situation, and Hager said he would consider moving to Apex.

And contrary to resenting the competition, Weatherly said he was disappointed Hager did not begin his campaign sooner.

“We’d have had the opportunities to share ideas and his vision for the future of Apex,” Weatherly said. “That would have been great if he had been able to enunciate his views.”

Hager said if he does win, he would have a month or two to work alongside the mayor and see how everything works.

“I think it’d be fun to be mayor, personally,” he said.