After a current student government leader withdrew his seat for next year’s session to pursue other interests earlier this week, another current member stepped up to fill the seat.

Current Associated Students of Madison Vice Chair Tom Templeton withdrew his seat for a position on Student Council as a Letters and Science representative Wednesday, the final day for winners to decline their seat.

Student Election Commission Chair Noah Pearce said upon receiving notification Templeton was not willing to sit on Student Council next session, runner-up and current Legislative Affairs Chair Adam Johnson was asked if he would want the seat in Templeton’s stead.

Pearce said Johnson accepted immediately.

Templeton said he declined the seat for personal reasons. However, he said he wanted to remain active in other areas of ASM that did not include the legislative role he currently helps lead.

“I think I am still interested in being involved in ASM. I am looking to get involved in possibly Wisconsin Student Lobby,” Templeton said.

He said he did not want his two-year term limit to expire after next session and wanted to keep the door open for running for council in the future. He plans on serving on Shared Governance committees next session.

Out of all the work he has done for council this session, Templeton said he looked back proudly on the work he did for the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates and holding fellow ASM members at a high standard for involvement and attendance.

Johnson, who will now be a Student Council representative from the College of Letters and Sciences, said he had spoken with Templeton the night before he had withdrawn his vote.

“We had spoken briefly of it the evening before. I didn’t know how serious he was at the time,” Johnson said.

ASM Chair Tyler Junger said he was happy Johnson would have a seat on council because of his work on Legislative Affairs this year.

Johnson said he resurrected Legislative Affairs this year, which members of ASM agreed had previously been a “joke.”

“Quite frankly, it was very embarrassing. We didn’t have a chair for most of the year. Essentially, Adam built a committee from the ground up and I expect him to do the same next year,” Templeton said.

Although he veritably dismissed the chance he would be running for ASM Chair, he did say he had some interest in the Vice Chair position, though he was still weighing his options.

Johnson, who was short of receiving a seat in the ASM elections earlier this month by 29 votes, said he would bring his ability to organize people around ideas and campaigns to council.

“Adam has shown great leadership this year,” Templeton said.