2050 United States Presidential Election

The 2050 United States Presidential election was the 25th Biennial Presidential election, Held on Tuesday, November 8th, 2050. Conservative nominee, United States Army Major General Leonard Wood defeated three main opponents in the election. His main challenger to the Presidency was progressive nominee Robert La Follette, a Senator from Wisconsin. He also faced the Liberal nominee, incumbent Vice President Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. The socialist party nominated Congressman Eugene Debs of Indiana. This was the second straight time the electoral college result proved to be inconclusive and a contingent election was required.

The liberal and conservative parties each had competitive primaries. The liberals saw a battle between Vice President Gretchen Whitmer and Tennessee Governor Phil Bresden. Whitmer struggled in the early primaries but managed to re-gain momentum after several successful actions by the Kennedy administration led to Whitmer regaining the lead and winning the nomination. She selected Louisiana Governor Donna Brazile as her running mate. This created the first all female ticket in American history. The Conservatives saw a vicious battle between the progressive and orthodox wings of the party. California Senator Hiram Johnson was their candidate as many hoped to prevent a party split as in the last election. Major General Leonard Wood ran as a more moderate candidate in the party and hoped to united the two factions of the party. Previous nominee Wendell Willkie also ran a second campaign, however he received little support as many associated him with the bitter loss of the previous election. Wood was nominated on the third ballot at the convention. Mirroring the previous election progressives stormed out of the convention and nominated Robert La Follette once again for President.

Foreign policy played a key role in this election. Whitmer was plagued by her association with the unpopular Kennedy administration which hurt her initial standing in the polls. She spent much of her time trying to defend the record of the administration and also promised a renewed push into space and a to reinstate the North American free trade agreement (NAFTA). Wood emphasized his military and foreign policy credentials. He promised to rebuild the global leadership position once held so strongly by the United States. He also pledged to increase tariffs and modernize the American military. La Follette focused on farm issues and on other important domestic matters, such as climate change and the cost of living. He promised to keep the country out of wars and to stay out of free trade agreements. The campaign began with Wood having a large lead, with La Follette in second and Whitmer in a distant 3rd. But as the economy improved and Whitmer did well at the debates her numbers began to rise. Wood made several high profile gaffes that hurt his credibility amongst foreign policy focused voters. The final election polls in the fall showed La Follette with the lead but the margins were close enough that any of the three candidates seemed to potential be able to win the Presidency.

On election night La Follette won a plurality of the electoral and popular vote. Wood finished second in electoral votes but third in popular votes. Whitmer would finish with the third most electoral votes and the second most popular votes. La Follette did best in the west and midwest. He swept the plains region and did well in the upper midwest. Wood did best in the northeast and did well in limited parts of the midwest and south. Whitmer did well in the south. Debs managed to pull a respectable portion of the vote and managed to grow the numbers of socialists in the house. The contingent election of this year was less controversial as many liberals switched to wood early and after thirteen ballots Wood was elected President. La Follette and his supporters were not happy and many riots broke out across the plains and midwest. Wood became the first candidate to be elected despite coming in third in the popular vote. This was the first time two straight contingent elections occurred back to back.