2052 United States Presidential Election (NCT)

The 2052 United States Presidential Election was the 67th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 2052. The Democratic ticket of Apollo Astronomical and Martha Real received the most electoral and popular votes, but failed to secure an Electoral College majority, advancing Astronomical/Martha and Raygun/Cringe to a second round of voting set to be held November 26th, 2052.

In a competitive race for the Democratic nomination that nearly resulted in a contested convention, Apollo Astronomical, senator from Pennsylvania defeated his rivals of Representative Martha Real, Governor Gritz A. Fritz (also known as Gritzandfritz), former Vice President Jon Ossoff, and former Attorney General Snoo Modmaker. Astronomical chose one of his former rivals, Martha Real of Florida, to be his running mate. The Democratic National Convention's supposed "moderation" within their trade plank caused Gritz A. Fritz and his delegates to walk out of the convention, culminating in Fritz running as an Independent. Governor Raygun Stan of New York secured the Republican nomination with little opposition, and selected Senator Cringe as his running mate. Fritz hoped to win the election outright by advancing to the second round, or at least prevent Astronomical from becoming President.

Astronomical ran a high energy, concentrated campaign centered on rebuilding the original "Blue Wall", realizing the split Democratic vote would narrow his path to victory heavily. Raygun ran a relatively confident and passive campaign, expecting the Democratic split to boost his chances within the Electoral College. Gritzandfritz ran an energetic campaign focused on the rust belt and western sunbelt, and saw flipping California as one of the keys to victory. Although polling showed Gritzandfritz taking plenty of votes from Raygun as well, many political models and polling indicated that Raygun would defeat both Astronomical and Gritzandfritz within the first round.

Defying these predictions, Astronomical secured enough electoral votes to advance to the second round, even surpassing Raygun in electoral votes. The Astronomical/Martha ticket won a plurality of the popular vote as well, thanks in part due to sizeable margins in California, New York, and Pennsylvania. Gritzandfritz was eliminated from the second round of voting, and chose to endorse Astronomical for the second round.

Democratic Party
Initially, former Vice President Jon Ossoff, who was the Democratic nominee in 2048 was widely seen as the frontrunner. However, the failure to prevent DecstarG's independent Presidential campaign from winning made his candidacy this time perceived as a "long-shot". President DecstarG had worked with the Democratic Congress to some degree during his administration, but began to split over policy differences. Due to the inability to work with Congress, DecstarG announced on September 1st, 2051 that he would not seek another term in office. While DecstarG did not formally endorse anyone, his speech implied that he was hoping Apollo Astronomical, Senator from Pennsylvania would run. Initially, Astronomical had no intent on running, choosing instead to focus on expanding the Democratic majority in the Senate so he could have the votes to become the Senate Majority Leader. After DecstarG's speech, and discussion with other Pennsylvanian congressmen, Astronomical announced he was running on September 25th, 2051, well after Ossoff, Martha, Gritzandfritz, and Snoo announced they were running. Snoo dropped out before the primaries began, and endorsed Gritzandfritz. In the Nevada primary, Gritzandfritz secured a plurality of the delegates and narrowly won the popular vote, but a strong showing by Astronomical in the New Jersey primary kept the race competitive. Martha was able to win South Carolina in what many saw as an upset, in large part due to the fact that polling showed Gritzandfritz winning. During Super Tuesday, Astronomical won many northern primaries, while Gritzafritz was able to win many southern primaries. Crucially, Astronomical was able to tie with Gritzandfritz' in delegates in the California primary, and was able to win Texas.

After Super Tuesday, Martha and Ossoff, who only won contests in their home states, announced they were suspending their campaigns, with Martha endorsing Astronomical and Ossoff not endorsing anyone, leaving the contest to a two way race between Astronomical and Gritzandfritz. Due to the closeness of the race, some political models showed a contested convention, with the chance of neither candidate securing enough delegates being estimated around 50%. Astronomical defied expectations and was able to secure the nomination by winning spring primaries such as Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio by solid margins. Additionally, he won the crucial New York primary in June by a 8 point margin. With the delegate math against him, Gritzandfritz announced he was suspending his campaign to focus on convincing delegates to give him the position of running mate.

At the 2052 Democratic National Convention, Astronomical's running mate shortlist was simply Gritzandfritz and Martha Real. Astronomical eventually selected Martha, to bring gender and regional diversity to the ticket. Additionally, Martha's home state of Florida was seen as competitive. Gritzandfritz, although frustrated by this loss, chose to instead focus his energy on affecting the official Democratic Platform. The convention was tense, but as the convention voted on a "balanced" trade platform, Gritzandfritz saw the campaign as unsalvageable, stormed out of the convention with 837 of his delegates, and announced he intended to run as an independent in the general election. Martha initially offered to give up her spot on the ticker in exchange for Gritzandfritz replacing her, but this offer was rejected. With this split in the Democratic party, many saw their chances of retaking the White House to be unlikely.

Platform
The Democratic Party platform has been described as "one of the most progressive platforms in modern history". On one of the biggest topics, the issue of Healthcare, the platform called for the shift from the public option system over to a universal, single-payer, national healthcare system over the course of 6 years. Many of the platform planks were passed by the convention by large margins, although the Universal Healthcare and Trade planks were met with some controversy and debate between the delegates. Vice Presidential Nominee Martha gave a speech invoking Hubert Humphrey's 1948 Democratic National Convention speech, saying "The time has come for America to step out of the shadow of for-profit healthcare, and to walk proudly into the modern, common sense establishment of a healthcare system for everyone", bringing enough delegates forward to vote for the plank. The platform calls for:


 * Establishment of a universal, single-payer national healthcare system.
 * Expansion of current green-energy programs and complete phase-out of non-renewable energy.
 * Increasing the minimum wage to $20 an Hour.
 * Establishment of new affordable housing programs.
 * Refined and streamlined tax system that would close loopholes and "protect working families from carrying the burden".
 * Expanding the tuition-free community college program to include all colleges and universities.
 * Statehood for Washington D.C, along with self determination for U.S oversees territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam.
 * A new Voting Rights Act that would restore previous provisions that were struck down.
 * A new Civil Rights Act that would focus on enshrining transgender rights within law.
 * Support for Kazakhstan in the Russo-Kazakh War
 * A $4 Trillion Infrastructure Bill focused on improving a variety of technology across the nation.
 * "Sensible balance between trading with other nations and protecting our nation's industry".
 * Government programs that would "establish transparency and trust in our institutions"
 * Lowering the age of Social Security and ensuring the program's continuation.
 * Comprehensive criminal justice reform
 * Research into the establishment of a UBI (Universal Basic Income) program to help combat automation.
 * More funding for NASA's outer space programs.

Most of the other provisions were adopted with little to no opposition, as the Democratic Party hailed it has formed "the most progressive and transformative platform ever." Astronomical vowed to fulfill these campaign promises, with the goal of "bringing America into the 21st century and preparing us for the challenges that we will face beyond." DecstarG applauded the platform, and formally endorsed the Astro/Martha ticket shortly after the convention. As Gritzandfritz ran an independent campaign for President, many of his policy positions were similar to those called by the Democratic Platform, albeit with a heavily protectionist stance on trade and differences on the college, tax and NASA planks.