Kentucky Senator TNF upsets everyone with a surprise victory in the Democratic primaries, despite or maybe thanks to his outspoken populist rhetoric and his pledge to defend the working class and fight the moneyed elites. At the DNC, he picks his former rival, Governor Scott from Connecticut, in order to appease the moderate wing of his party. However, this is not enough to avoid a rift in the party, with Moderate Democratic Senator Averroes from New York leaving the party and running on his own. He picks another disgruntled Democrat, Miles from Louisiana, as his running mate, in the hopes to build inroads in the South. On the Republican side, things go much more smoothly, with Arkansas Governor Jerry easily cruising to nomination, and attempting to appeal to moderate-libertarian voters to the North by picking Goldwater as his running mate. However, the GOP ticket is challenged by a very strong Libertarian ticket, headed by SJoyce and with HPJ as his Veep.
The campaign is a very chaotic ones, with four very different perspectives emerging. TNF starts from very low, but manages to regain ground, especially by doing very well in the Rust Belt, and retain a strong grip on the Northeast with Scott's help. Jerry, while remaining very strong in the Deep South, sees its support in the West and in Swing States erode under the combined attack of SJoyce and Averroes, who runs on a centrist and "bipartisan" campaign. SJoyce's strength comes from socially liberal States of the West and he manages to narrowly carry his home State. Averroes and Miles build a heterodox coalition made of suburban voters, rural midwesterners, and socially liberal moderates. However, they do not achieve the breakthrough some had hoped for.
Senator TNF (D-KY)/Governor Scott (D-CT): 28%, 205 EVsGovernor Jerry (R-AR)/State SoS Goldwater (R-WA): 34%, 176 EVsSenator Averroes (I-NY)/Fmr. Senator Miles (I-LA): 23%, 98 EVsCongressman SJoyce (L-FL)/Congressman HPJ (L-IN): 15%, 59 EVsIn the House, the Republican caucus holds solid to hand the Presidency to
Jerry, who is seen as legitimate due to his victory in the Popular Vote (only a few republicans defected to Averroes or TNF). In the Senate however, negotiations are very tense in the Democratic caucus between the Averroes and TNF camps. In the end,
Scott emerges as a good compromise candidate, being a Northerner balancing Jerry's southern background, as well as being moderate but unambiguously left-wing.
