2120 United States Presidential Election (Wild Black Yonder)

The 2120 United States presidential election was the 84th quadrennial presidential election, held on November 5th, 2120. As in all elections after the 30th Amendment, the election was held through instant runoff voting. The People's Party ticket of labor activist Lorenzo Lowe and retired Space Force colonel Isabelle Morgan won the first round with 29.0% of the vote, but lost the second round to the Democratic Party ticket of Vice President Kaiya Carrillo and Governor of Greenland Ronin Charles.

Per the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, incumbent president Jamie Lee was ineligible to seek a third term. Carillo was faced with a virtually open primary, with only Astronaut John Walker running against her in the Democratic primary. The People's Party primary was hotly contested, with labor activist Lorenzo Lowe besting retired Colonel Isabelle Morgan, Junior Senator from Washington D.C. Barbara Smith, Governor of Massachussetts Pete Estban, among other candidates. The Constitution Party nominated businessman Freddie King, the America First Party nominated Kayleigh Allen, the Green Party nominated animal rights activist Karen Still, and the Libertarian Party nominated Andrew Fulton.

Kaiyo Carrillo ran on a campaign on continuing President Lee's policies, expanding America's military presence in throughout the Sol System, and proposed an Economic Union with Canada, Mexico, and several other North and Central American countries, similar to the former European Union. Lowe ran a fierce populist campaign, accusing Carrillo of selling the US out to India and Europe, being anti-union and anti-worker, and perpetuating America's 'centuries long tradition of imperialism'. He promised a rebirth of labor, achieved through abolishing right-to-work laws and loosening regulation of labor unions. He also promised to withdraw American military forces from contested areas, such as the Vallis Bohr valley on Luna and the Arcadia quadrangle on Mars, in an effort to reduce tensions between other powers. Allen's campaign called for the complete withdrawl of American forces from outside of Earth's sphere of influence, protectionist trade policy and a return to American isolationism. King campaigned on loosening trade restrictions, eliminating health-care fraud, and reducing UBI payments from $65000 a month to $45500. Still and the Green Party campaigned on a Second Green New Deal, which included sharp reductions in waste production, the abandonment of US extraterrestrial colonies, and vast Geoengineering projects aimed at restoring a pre-2050 Earth.

2120 was a tumultuous year for the United States, and the campaign season reflected that. U.S. strikes on Lunar settlements suspected to house Lunar separatists caused controversy and widespread protests, as did the Supreme Court case AIC-9323-324 v. United States. Class conflict also reached a boiling point when quadrillionaire Henry Banks attempted to by out an entire borough of New York city, and enforce his claim with hired mercenaries. Lowe used these controversies point out what he believed were crippling flaws in the American system and claim America needed a 'second revolution'. On the other hand, both Carilllo and King used the sometimes violent protests caused by these events to drum up anti-extremist sentiments, highlighting the damage caused by the 2120 summer protest wave and calling for moderate leadership.

Carrillo held a slight lead over Lowe for most of the campaign season, with the lead widening during the 2120 summer protest wave and closing after the U.S. strikes on Lunar settlements, as well as the failure of the bi-partisan stimulus package due to Constitution and Democratic resistance. On Election Day, Lowe managed to win a slight plurality of the vote, however the second round saw the moderate and conservative support coalesce behind Vice President Carrillo, though the election was much closer than polls suggested.