Butterfly effects in the history of elections?

[Tekken_Guy]

What are some butterfly effects in the history of elections.

Arguably the most famous example in modern U.S. Politics was the Jack Ryan divorce controversy leading to Obama's election, and subsequently him winning the presidency.

[brucejoel99]

Nixon not wanting his GOP allies distracted by a nasty du Pont-Haskell primary during his presidential re-election year is the only reason that anybody knows who Joe Biden is today, a half-century & 9 presidents later.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

The decision of five dumbf@ck judges led to the election of George W. Bush.

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

The 2011 white house correspondents dinner...

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

Nixon not wanting his GOP allies distracted by a nasty du Pont-Haskell primary during his presidential re-election year is the only reason that anybody knows who Joe Biden is today, a half-century & 9 presidents later.

What election was this?

[brucejoel99]

Nixon not wanting his GOP allies distracted by a nasty du Pont-Haskell primary during his presidential re-election year is the only reason that anybody knows who Joe Biden is today, a half-century & 9 presidents later.

What election was this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_United_States_Senate_election_in_Delaware

[NewYorkExpress]

Frank Murkowski appointing his daughter to a U.S Senate seat led to Sarah Palin being the Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States.

[libertpaulian]

The decision of governors to shut down schools for a long-term period during COVID led to the CRT/trans/drag queen protests that we see today.

[Hope For A New Era]

Todd Akin accidentally saved the Affordable Care Act with his famous "legitimate rape" comment.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

A backbencher Republican Pennsylvania State Senator opting to retire early to take a cushy private job might've resulted in the Democrats' overperformance in 2022 and holding the Senate.

[Tekken_Guy]

-Had Rick Scott decided to retire after his gubernatorial term was over rather than run for Senate it’s likely nobody would know who Ron DeSantis is today.
-Socialist Dave Welters’ decision to run for Senate siphoned votes from Dee Huddleston and led to a little-known county executive named Mitch McConnell to be a senator.

[Tekken_Guy]

The underwhelming midterms may have practically ended the career of congresswoman Victoria Spartz.

1. The narrow congressional majority led to the protracted speakership battle. Spartz was part of the renegade caucus. Also, the narrow majority also meant the struggle to get the votes to kick Omar off of Foreign Affairs, with Spartz being a major obstacle to those reforms, estranging her from the rest of her caucus.

2. The narrow size of the caucus may have cost Jim Banks the House Majority Whip position. It's possible a larger caucus would have given him the votes he needed to beat Emmer, or alternately the votes Ferguson needed to finish ahead of Emmer in the first round, which may have changed the calculus of the second round. Losing the house race meant Banks had no further path towards rising up the house ranks (as he termed out at RSC), and with that, jumped to the Senate race.

3. The awful Senate results were blamed on Rick Scott's hands-off approach leading to a slate of unelectable MAGAworld celebs as candidates, which put pressure on Daines to go an interventionalist route in 2024. And he decided to use Indiana as a test round for the actual battleground states. And with Banks the first one in, Daines quickly closed the door on Spartz.

All of that turned Victoria Spartz from the favorite to succeed Braun to being out of congress altogether after this term.

[Oppo]

Rubio re-entering the Senate race led to Ron DeSantis dropping out of the primary for his seat, a primary that DeSantis could very well have lost (potentially to now-Never Trumper David Jolly).

[Zenobiyl]

In 1964 CA-GOP officials asked a spokesperson for General Electric to record a fundraising speech for Barry Goldwater.

Sixteen years later that spokesperson was elected president of the United States.

[Mr. Smith]

A bunch of Hamilton Tickets might be the reason for President DeSantis in 2024.


2016 and the entire SCOTUS would've been very different if:

-Russ Feingold entered in 2012 for Senate, as someone else probably defeats RonJohn in 2016 and maybe even carries over Hillary.

- Obama backed a little mayor from Western PA instead of a primary loser...or just backed Sestak again.

[Brittain33]

Coretta Scott King criticizing Jeff Sessions’ record on voting rights in 1986 steers him from a lifetime judgeship to a political career leading to IC Mueller and the repudiation of Roy Moore.

[Tekken_Guy]

-If the RGA had not left Jack Ciattarelli out to dry in 2021, Andy Kim would be the frontrunner to be the next U.S. Senator from New Jersey.
-If David Price had stuck around for one final congressional term, Wiley Nickel would probably be on his way to a second term.
-If Anthony Brown had not sh*t the bed in his 2014 gubernatorial campaign, Andy Harris would be out of congress right now.

[The Economy is Getting Worse]

Spanberger beating Brat. She will probably end up as governor of Virginia given that Trump probably wins 2024 and possibly President in 2028.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Nixon’s Legacy

[Progressive Pessimist]

Comey reopening the email investigation...

[Roll Roons]

Mark Sokolich not endorsing Chris Christie.

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

Comey reopening the email investigation...

Anthony Weiner getting caught sexting an underage girl...

[Landslide Lyndon]

If George Allen hadn't said the M-word.

[The Arizonan]

Frank Murkowski appointing his daughter to a U.S Senate seat led to Sarah Palin being the Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States.

That also led to Tim Scott becoming a senator.

[Progressive Pessimist]

What about if Derek Chauvin never killed George Floyd? A summer without those protests probably would have made 2020 a better year for Democrats.