2044 United States Presidential Election

The 2044 United States presidential election was the 22nd biennial Presidential Election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2046. Incumbent Conservative President Olympia J. Snowe of Maine defeated Governor James P. Kennedy of Massachusetts. It was the first election in which a former or current Vice President won election to a full term in their own right as President. Snowe also became the first woman elected as a member of the Conservative party.

Olympia Snowe faced little challenge in securing the nomination of the Conservative party. Due to her association with a popular President Rockefeller. Her only major opponent was Herman Cain, a pastor from Wyoming. She won all but six states and had the nomination secured early. The Liberal primary had four main candidates initially. James P. Kennedy the popular Governor of Massachusetts, Henry "Scoop" Jackson a Senator from Washington, Senator Teri Sewell of Alabama and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. Jackson and Reid lost their momentum early and were not able to win more than a handful of delegates. Sewell and Kennedy campaigned aggressively but Sewell suspended her campaign after unexpectedly losing the key state of Florida. Snowe selected Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, while Kennedy selected Governor Phil Bresden of Tennessee.

Both major-party candidates focused primarily on domestic issues, Snowe promised to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in order to aid farmers, she also highlighted the fairly good economic situation. Kennedy responded by attack Snowe harshly on the southwestern crisis and the lack of progress being made on the space race by Snowe. Kennedy had large leads in most polls in the first few months of the campaign. But everything changed when incumbent President Nelson Rockefeller died of a heart attack in early august, 2044. This, alongside a series of personnel changes to her campaign resulted in Snowe closing the gap between then late in the campaign.

The election was incredibly close between the two candidates. Kennedy won the popular vote by more than 600,000 votes. He became the second candidate to lose the presidential election despite receiving a plurality of popular votes. Snowe very narrowly defeated Kennedy in the electoral college by only six votes, this would be one of the narrowest electoral results in American history. Several states proved to be within a few thousand votes. Snowe and Kennedy agreed to do a nationwide hand recount in any states that were less than a 1% margin of victory for either candidate. This recount did not change any states results. Kennedy conceded the next day following the recounts. Snowe’s comeback was considered one of the most impressive feats in recent American political history.