Ashley is on the phone with her friend, Terri, talking about how they are going to make this the best year ever. She ends the call to continue working on her student government election posters. Ashley tries to get ready in the bathroom, but Toby is already in it, and an argue ensues. It is revealed that Toby’s father and Ashley’s mother are in a relationship, and the two families have recently moved in together.

At school, Toby complains to J.T. about Ashley, while Ashley complains about Toby to Terri. Ashley and Terri are hanging up Ashley’s posters when they run into Paige and they examine her clothing before Paige says, “new year, new look, new Paige.” She tells Ashley how typical it is of her to be focusing on the election rather than her appearance.

Emma and Manny enter school and are immediately harassed by Jimmy and Spinner, both eighth graders. The two demand the girls have hall passes or they must leave, then laugh it off, making fun of seventh graders. The girls ignore it and meet up with J.T., Toby, and Liberty before going to their homeroom, media immersion with Snake. The eighth graders, Jimmy, Spinner, Paige, Ashley, and Terri, join in their homeroom with Mrs. Kwan, who commends Ashley on starting her campaign early.

After class, the seventh graders notice Ashley’s posters, which Toby dislikes because no one is running against her. He tells J.T. to run a mock campaign against her, but he refuses. Toby convinces him by saying that it’s great practice since he one day wants to be famous, and he agrees, only if Toby does all of the work.

Liberty approaches Ashley and Terri while they are hanging up posters. She introduces herself, saying that she is running for secretary and wants to discuss the lack of a school newspaper, but Ashley tells her to wait until after the election. Meanwhile, Toby is making flyers and posters for J.T.’s election in the media room.

Ashley and Terri run into Toby putting up the posters, and notice that they have J.T.’s name on them. She says that they are wasting their time, since school presidents are always eighth graders, but Toby assures her that this year things will be different. He mocks her by saying that she is just afraid of competition.

J.T. begins his campaign claiming he is going to do what real politicians do, “absolutely nothing!” while Ashley talks about starting a recycling program. She begins to get annoyed when she realizes people are paying attention to J.T. more, simply because he is funny.

Later, at home, Ashley confronts Toby for helping J.T. run his campaign, which results in an argument. Ashley’s mother comes in to try and break up the fight, which she thought resulted because Toby was running against Ashley. Once she realizes that Toby is only helping J.T. with his campaign, she says that he has every right to help his friend. Ashley is upset because she believes that she is taking Toby’s side.

The next day, Toby and J.T. check the polls and see that J.T. is winning with 52% of the votes. This worries J.T. and he reminds Toby that the campaign was supposed to be a joke, and if he wins he will actually have to work to help Degrassi. Later, J.T. is at his locker when Jimmy and Spinner forcefully take him to the locker-rooms, where Ashley is waiting. She bribes him with $60 to drop out of he race, but he refuses, lying and saying his parents will be upset if he loses. She continually raises her bribe up to $80, until he finally accepts. She gives him half of the money and promises the other half once he drops out of the election in front of the whole school.

Spinner sneaks up on Manny and Emma and blows a spitball at Manny, making her cry. Emma tells Spinner to leave, and comforts Manny, while Terri comes up and makes Spinner go away. Once he is gone, Manny reveals she was fake crying to make him go away.

Toby finds out about the bribe and confronts J.T., but J.T. reminds him that the entire campaign was a joke and offers to split the money with him. Toby says that he just wants Ashley to not get everything that she wants.

Later, when J.T. begins his speech, Toby pulls Ashley into the hallway and confronts her about the bribe. He threatens to tell the school, but she tells him that J.T. already accepted the money. Toby lies and says that he took the money as evidence, which scares Ashley. She then says her entire life is already terrible, so Toby might as well make it worse. She says that her mom only cares about Toby and that she just wants one thing, to be school president.

At the end of his speech, J.T. says that he is dropping out of the election and tells the school to vote for Ashley. Out in the hall, Ashley begs Toby not to tell the school, and he agrees.

Jimmy walks Ashley home to find Toby sitting on the porch. He congratulates her on winning and apologizes for setting J.T. up against her. The two realize that as long as they are living in the same house, they might as well be nice to each other.