The Story of Ohio2

[DKrol]

This tweet caught my interest and made me laugh, very hard, in the middle of the work day. I decided to take the ideas mentioned in the "Patch Notes" and run with it, creating a backstory for what I'm calling America 2.0.

This will be a light hearted, probably not super well thought out, farcical tl.

[DKrol]

New Hampsmonts: The Great Union

By the fall of 2025, Vermont was in a serious bind. The state's retirement system was bankrupt, as the fund failed to keep up with the demands of an aging population, and the teachers' union was on strike for the first two months of the school year. Governor TJ Donovan (D) was unable to find a solution to these two critical problems, with the State Senate led by the Progressive Party and the State House led by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans.

In New Hampshire, Governor Jon Morgan (D) was slumping in the polls and facing an increasing hostile legislature. The state's revenues were falling short of expectations and his solution, to institute New Hampshire's first income tax, was opposed by moderates in his own party and by the opposition Republicans. With a projected budgetary shortfall looming, Governor Morgan needed to find a solution.

At a conference at Dartmouth College, Governor Morgan met with Governor Donovan and proposed a bold solution to both of their problems: merge the two states. While Governor Donovan originally scoffed at the idea, Governor Morgan pitched it as a win-win. By combining their tax bases both state's financial woes would dissipate and by combining their voting bases Democrats would be assured to hold control for the foreseeable future. After two days of negotiations, Governors Morgan and Donovan signed the Dartmouth Accord on December 1, 2025.

The Dartmouth Accord proposed a bold new vision for the Green and White Mountains. While each state would technically continue to exist, their governments would merge into one. Each state, renamed as "constituent regions", would elect its own Governor and Legislature and set policies for itself. But voters would also elect a President and a bicameral legislature (25 member Senate and a 50 member House) from the combined state, to craft policy and govern for the state as a whole.

Through significant political maneuvering, Governor Morgan pushed the Dartmouth Accord through the General Court in May 2026. Governor Donovan faced a lot more opposition, with the initial Accord being killed in a Senate committee when the Progressives argued it would sell off the state and its interests. A revived effort, ensuring that the electoral districts for the legislature would respect community integrity, won the Progressives over and passed the Vermont Legislature in August 2026.

With both states approving the plan, an election for the first President and legislature was held in November 2026, alongside a referendum to approve the union. With 61% turnout, 55% of New Hampshire voters and 61% of Vermont voters approved the union. New Hampshire State Senator Joyce Craig (D) was elected President over Vermont's former Governor Phil Scott (R), while Democrats won the first Senate (11 Democrats, 10 Republicans, 4 Progressives) and Progressives won the first House (22 Progressives, 15 Republicans, and 13 Democrats).

Then the attention turned to Washington. President Craig made her way down to Washington to meet with Congress, which needed to approve the plan. President Kamala Harris (D), elected to a full term after President Joe Biden resigned due to declining health in 2023, was opposed to New Hampsmonts. She argued that the union gave states too much control over their borders and sidestepped the federal government.

President Craig rebutted that argument that the voters in New Hampsmonts supported the plan and that to deny them their government would be to deny the will of the people. Senators Pat Leahy (D), Peter Shumlin (D), Jeanne Shaheen (D), and Maggie Hassan (D) all gavetheir approval to the plan, under the understanding that each constituent region would continue to elect its own members of Congress. Congress sanctioned the union in March 2027.

The Supreme Court gave its blessing to the union, in a case involved an RNC challenge, with the condition that New Hampsmonts would have to send two Senators elected at-large to Washington, as well as a census-appropriate number of Congresspeople from electoral districts. The case of Romney v. Craig became a defining landmark case in American history, as it confirmed upon the states the right to draw their own borders, with the consent of all parties involved, and sparked several decades of change.