Sawyer Ray wins election to the top post during the program’s 80th session.
Tuesday morning at American Legion Boys Nation, as he stood in line waiting to get his drink, Sawyer Ray was approached by Luke Lawson.
Ray had earned the Nationalist Party’s nomination for president on Sunday. Lawson, the 2025 Boys Nation president, was on staff this year as a junior counselor working with the Nationalist Party.
Lawson asked Ray how he felt, hours before he would debate Federalist candidate Lincoln Haussler in the race to be the president of the 80th session of Boys Nation.
“I really don’t know how to feel right now,” Ray answered.
“And he’s like, ‘I’m gonna be honest with you, I was not OK at this point (last year).’ It was validating to see that it was OK to not be a stoic, stone wall of confidence. He viewed himself as an underdog, and I told him I saw myself as the underdog in this race as well,” Ray said.
Lawson’s support — not to mention some assistance from his “war room” — helped encourage Ray, who on Tuesday night defeated Haussler in the presidential election.
Ray became the first Arkansan to win the top position at Boys Nation; Haussler, from Nebraska, was also vying to be his state’s first Boys Nation president.
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In this case, Ray has outdone a fellow Arkansas Boys State alumnus. While Bill Clinton would go on to become the first, and so far only, Boys Nation graduate elected president of the United States, he didn’t serve as president at Boys Nation.
“It’s weird to think I did better than somebody who became president of the United States,” said Ray, who was sponsored to Arkansas Boys State by Shelton Tucker Craft American Legion Post 27 in Fayetteville, Ark. “But it’s also kind of rewarding to know that the state of Arkansas sent me and I represented them well enough to be president. I remember a bunch of kids from Arkansas Boys State, when I posted on Instagram, ‘I’m headed to D.C.,’ and they all DM’ed me, ‘Go be great. Go represent.’ I think those messages have a little more poignancy and emphasis now that I’m president.”
The presidency of Boys Nation was a goal for Ray after he lost the gubernatorial election at Arkansas Boys State.
“I loved Arkansas Boys State with all my heart, it was a great thing, but that loss left a little bit of the job feeling it was undone. So I knew pretty much when I drove back to Fayetteville, that when I flew to D.C., it wasn’t going to be for no purpose at all. I was pretty dead set on running,” Ray said.
Upon securing the nomination, Ray turned to friends and supporters to help him prepare for the debate.
“We met up on the second floor (of the Marymount University residence hall) and it essentially turned into a war room. They were giving me questions and pressing me hard on answers, making sure I was prepared for anything my opponent might throw at me. But also ensuring that I was prepared for the questions. I had them all take a question and make me an expert in two minutes on each one.
“Evidently it turned out well.”
‘We will always fight for our home’
The Boys Nation senators also voted for the vice president on Tuesday, where North Carolina Federalist Krish Korrapati defeated Illinois Nationalist Charles Davis in that election.
After being sworn in Wednesday afternoon by Bill of Rights Institute President and CEO David Bobb, who also administered the oath of office to Ray, Korrapati referenced the semiquincentennial Bobb mentioned earlier.
“I think something that stuck with me that he said was to go back to our high schools and talk about it to our friends who might be concerned, why do we want to fight for another 250 years? But I think it’s also important that you ask yourself that question,” said Korrapati, who was sponsored to Tar Heel Boys State by American Legion Post 321 in Huntersville. “Because when he prompted us with that question, I thought to myself, ‘Why do I want to fight for another 250 years?’
“And the answer came up pretty quickly,” he continued. “Because North Carolina and the United States of America is my home. And I will always fight for my home. And I think all of us here can agree that we will always fight for our home.”
As vice president, Korrapati will lead the Boys Nation Senate through its remaining sessions of the week.
Visits to Arlington, Pentagon, Supreme Court
Earlier Tuesday, before the election, Boys Nation visited the Pentagon, while on Wednesday morning before the presidential and vice presidential inaugurations, they visited the Supreme Court. Those trips off campus came after a Monday afternoon visit to Arlington National Cemetery, where the Boys Nation senators from Kansas, Alexis Zamora Reyes and Burklee Jackson, laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with American Legion National Commander Dan Wiley and Boys Nation Director PNC Clarence Hill.
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At the Pentagon, President Pro Tempore Brady Pace and Secretary of the Senate John Alley Jr. laid a wreath at the 9/11 Memorial, and each spoke about the importance of remembering and honoring those who died that day.
Nationalist Party Counselor Jared Harrison, who was an intern in the White House on 9/11, talked about his experience that day as well. The senators and staff then toured the Pentagon.
Among those who spoke to the senators at the Supreme Court was Gail Curley, the Marshal of the Supreme Court and a 1986 Girls Nation alumnus.
Meeting the Legion Family
At one point Monday, all three leaders of the American Legion Family — Wiley, American Legion Auxiliary President Pam Ray, and Sons of The American Legion National Commander Bill Clancy — were at Boys Nation.
Wiley noted how special it was to be in the nation’s capital during the semiquincentennial year. He also had a challenge for the 2026 Boys Nation senators.
“I know many of you want to make an impact in this world, and I applaud you for that. We need leaders like you because that’s what makes our government great. But even still, I ask you to ask yourself, what more can you do?” Wiley said.
Ray, a former Girls Nation staff member, said the country needs both programs.
“We need you to know that we are looking to you to lead the way, to maintain this country’s freedoms, and to let our country stand for what it has always (stood) for, which is right and democracy,” she told Boys Nation.
Clancy visited with Boys Nation senators throughout the week and is scheduled to speak to them en masse on Friday morning.
Follow the happenings at #BoysNation2026 at Legion.org/BoysNation and on The American Legion’s social media channels.
- Boys Nation