Alexandria Raines

**Alexandria Claire Raines** (December 17, 1997 -) was an American politician, pro-democracy campaigner, and stateswoman who served as the 50th President of the United States of America from January 20, 2037 until January 20, 2041, having previously been Secretary of State in the government of President Selina Meyer between 2033 and 2037. As a member of the Democratic party, Raines was a senator from Texas between 2027 and 2033.

Raines' political career began in 2026 with her election as the junior senator from Texas as a member of the Democratic party; in the senate, Raines voted to pass the United America Recovery Act in 2030 and 2031, during the impeachment of Alexander Turpin, Raines voted to convict President Turpin. In 2032, Raines won re-election as a senator, but was nominated by President Selina Meyer to be Secretary of State, a title she assumed on January 21, 2033 after resigning as a senator. Whilst as Secretary of State, Raines presided over the United States' opposition to the conflict in northern Africa and imposed heavy sanctions on the Bovido Imperium for it's part in the conflict. Raines signed numerous flagship trade and defence pacts with Canada, Dunsteen, Mexico, Spain, Poland and the United Kingdom as part of the Meyer administration's programme to expand American influence into western Europe and to consolidate a coalition of allies. In summer 2036, Raines secured the presidential nomination of the Democratic party whilst concurrently serving as secretary of state; in October 2036, the Bovido-American Diplomatic Crisis saw the escalation of tensions between the Bovido Imperium and the United States of America, which was seen by some as an attempt to tilt the 2036 election in Raines' favour. On November 4, 2036, Raines was elected as president of the United States, and was inaugurated on January 20, 2037.

During her presidency, Raines focused her administration heavily on foreign policy and presided over American involvement in the war against the Bovido Imperium from 2037 to 2038. Whilst America was initially largely isolationist prior to Raines' presidency, the January 20 Attacks on the United States during Raines' inauguration prompted a rapid shift in government policy and public opinion, with the United States activating NATO's Article 5 in response. Following the defeat of the Bovido Imperium in September 2038, Raines helped lay the foundations of the new international order through her leading role in the Jerusalem Peace Conference and by spearheading reforms to the United Nations. Domestically, Raines attempted to introduce a set of constitutional reforms to reform the electoral system by removing the electoral college and instead initiating direct presidential elections; however, these reforms were blocked by moderate elements in Congress, as well as by the Republican party. In response to the Democratic party's proposed electoral reforms, Republican led legislatures took part in significant amounts of gerrymandering and voter disenfranchisement during the 2040 redistricting process, which contributed to the 2040 presidential election resulting in an electoral college tie between Raines and her Republican challenger Ron DeSantis. A constitutional crisis emerged after Congress was prevented from holding a contingent presidential election and Raines' presidential term expired on January 20, 2041, resulting in Senate president pro tempore Robert Menendez assuming the presidency on an acting basis.

After Mark Milley's military coup in September 2041, the Democratic party was dissolved and the constitution was suspended by the new regime; in response, Raines founded the Progressive party and became a de-facto leader of opposition to the Committee of National Renewal.

## History

Born in Texas in 1997, Alexandria Raines grew up during an economic era dominated by the Great Recession and political instability within the United States of America. After graduating from Yale University in 2021 with a degree in international relations, Raines joined the Democratic party as a political advisor to Senator Andrew Johnson. During the 2026 midterms, Raines was elected to become the junior senator from Texas, becoming the first elected Democrat senator since 1997 after defeating incumbent John Cornyn. During her tenure as a senator, Raines served as a member of the treasury select committee from 2027 until 2029, and then on the committee on foreign relations from 2029 until 2033. Raines voted to pass the United America Recovery Act in 2030 and 2031, and during the impeachment of Alexander Turpin, Raines voted to convict President Turpin. During the 2032 general election, Alexandria Raines was re-elected to the senate with an increased majority; however, following her conformation as Secretary of State on January 27, 2033, Raines resigned her position as senator and was replaced by Beto O'Rourke.

## Secretary of State

Whilst as Secretary of State, Raines presided over the United States' opposition to the conflict in northern Africa and imposed heavy sanctions on the Bovido Imperium for it's part in the conflict. Raines signed numerous flagship trade and defence pacts with Canada, Dunsteen, Mexico, Spain, Poland and the United Kingdom as part of the Meyer administration's programme to expand American influence into western Europe and to consolidate a coalition of allies. In summer 2036, Raines secured the presidential nomination of the Democratic party whilst concurrently serving as secretary of state; in October 2036, the Bovido-American Diplomatic Crisis saw the escalation of tensions between the Bovido Imperium and the United States of America, which was seen by some as an attempt to tilt the 2036 election in Raines' favour. On November 4, 2036, Raines was elected as president of the United States, and was inaugurated on January 20, 2037. Her opponent, Ron DeSantis, refused to concede until January 2037.

## Presidency

 Vice President
 Election

The presidency of Alexandria Raines began on January 20, 2037 at 12pm noon, following her inauguration at the west front of the Capitol building in Washington D.C. and the handover from her predecessor, President Selina Meyer. During the presidential transition, Raines had presented the newly elected 125th Congress with her preferred nomination of Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, and Secretary of Defence; by January 18, 2037, all nominees had been confirmed by Congress and upon the inauguration of Raines, they automatically took office.

### January 20 Attack

 Main article: January 20 Attack
Following months of strained relations between the Bovido Imperium and the United States of America during the Bovido-American Diplomatic Crisis, tensions between the two nations began to reach breaking point following the election of Alexandria Raines as president on November 4, 2036 after Raines had campaigned on a platform of increasing American intervention on the world stage, specifically mentioning the conflict in Africa as an example of a situation where American influence would be needed. Against the backdrop of the Shanghai Pact's invasion of Jerusalem State, Bovido Imperator Julios Cragen authorised the Bovido armed forces to conduct a pre-emptive strike against the United States of America to prevent it from entering into the conflict; on January 4, 2037, Imperator Cragen gave a public address on the anniversary of his seizure of power to denounce the "abhorrent dereliction of morality" that president-elect Raines was intending to partake in as part of her manifesto pledge. On January 6, 2037 this address was broadcast again following the certification of Raines' victory in the 2036 presidential election.

On January 16, 2037, the nuclear-equipped submarine *INL Peacemaker* launched on a 4 day journey to the Gulf of Mexico from the Pindoraman provinces of the Bovido Imperium, equipped with a high-yield thermonuclear bomb. At 12:01 noon on January 20, 2037, just moments following the inauguration of President Alexandria Raines, the *Peacemaker* received the order from Imperator Julios Cragen and detonated it's payload in the gulf, causing a mushroom cloud of water vapour to form in the initial aftermath. The *INL Peacemaker* and a nearby oceanic documentary crew ship were obliterated in the initial explosion. As a direct result of the thermonuclear explosion, a large tsunami wave struck the south coasts of the states of Florida and Alabama within hours of the detonation, causing widespread death and destruction in the aftermath. In response to the detection of a nuclear detonation, President Alexandria Raines and Vice President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were quickly taken from the site of the inauguration at the Capitol in Washington D.C and taken aboard a modified Boeing E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post designated as *Nightwatch*, which took up the moniker of *Air Force One* upon President Raines' boarding, whilst the helicopter *Marine Two* carrying Vice President Ocasio-Cortez flew quickly to Virginia. After being in the air for several hours, President Raines gave an address to the nation from *Air Force One*, before returning to Washington D.C. The attack on the United States would see President Alexandria Raines commit the nation to fighting in the Conquest of Africa, triggering Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation defence pact to launch a western assault against the Bovido Imperium during the Siege of Jerusalem less than a month later.

### Involvement in Conquest of Africa

In the aftermath of the January 20 Attack, President Alexandria Raines of the United States of America invoked Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's defence accords, requiring all member states to contribute forces to defending "homeland soil" and to engage in a retaliation against the Bovido Imperium. Whilst Spanish and Canadian forces were allocated to the defence of strategic bases in Europe and North America, Dunsteenian, British and American forces were put into active combat duty as part of a NATO contingent led by US General Mark Milley. Due to the ongoing Shanghai Pact invasion of the Bovido Imperium state of Jerusalem, NATO forces were able to taking advantage of already existing territorial gains to launch an assault against the city of Jerusalem from the city of Ramallah, due north of the capital. On December 1, 2037, the Shanghai Pact and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation announced a military alliance with the intention of defeating the Bovido Imperium in Africa; as part of this agreement, NATO forces launched into Saharan Africa from the Free Republic of Southern Sahara on December 2, 2037, overwhelming boarder guards and pushing forth into the desert, managing to push north enough to bridge Southern Sahara with the Shanghai Pact Administrative Zone in Africa by December 24, 2037 in a move dubbed the "Christmas Miracle" by several press outlets in the United States of America and the United Kingdom.

On January 28, 2038, a large scale explosion took place at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's mission base in the outskirts of Jerusalem, killing several high ranking US and British commanders in the process; subsequent surprise missile attacks took place on January 29th and February 1st, whilst an armed helicopter transporting replacement commanders to the mission base was shot down in the evening of February 6, 2038. Faced with a barrage of undetectable assaults on the NATO leadership and high death tolls, UK prime minister Angela Rayner announced in a ministerial statement to Parliament on February 11, 2038 that British forces would be withdrawing from the mission in Jerusalem, whilst the Dunsteenian foreign ministry confirmed Dunsteen's withdrawal of forces from Jerusalem to focus on Operation Safeguard the following day. With the withdrawal of key western allies from Jerusalem, on February 29, 2038 US president Alexandria Raines signed a formal treaty with Libirachi president Karyn Voor for the Shanghai Pact to purchase American military bases in the region at a sizeable mark-up whilst the United States Armed Forces formally withdrew from the mission in Jerusalem; leaked files from 2047 would later show that the Libirachi armed forces were responsible for the mystery attacks on NATO leadership in an attempt to get the western forces to leave Jerusalem and prevent any partition agreement with the United States. Domestically, the withdrawal from Jerusalem was poorly received by Republicans but allowed the United States to minimise it's total personnel losses and focus on the defeat and partition of the Bovido Imperium in northern Africa, closer to the American sphere of influence.

During America's involvement in northern Africa, the United States military primarily focused on the liberation Algeria and eastern Morocco following an agreement between Shanghai Pact major general Khalifa Haftar and NATO commander Mark Milley in December 2037.

### 2041 United States Constitutional Crisis

 Main articles: 2040 United States presidential election and 2041 United States Constitutional Crisis
As the incumbent Democratic president, Alexandria Raines secured the Democratic party nomination for the 2040 presidential election with ease in June 2040. During the election campaign, Republican nominee Ron DeSantis frequently sought to cast doubt on the American electoral process by portraying President Raines' administration as having rigged the voting laws in their favour. Ultimately, the 2040 presidential election returned a draw in the electoral college, despite President Raines winning the popular vote and Governor DeSantis carrying the higher proportion of states; this marked the first time since 1824 that a presidential election had resulted in an electoral college tie, necessitating a contingent election to be held in the House of Representatives for president and in the Senate for vice president. On Tuesday December 18, 2040, following the meeting of the electoral college to cast ballots, President Raines, Vice President Ocasio-Cortez, and Speaker Kamala Harris (in their positions as head of the executive, Senate and House of Representatives) announced that the constitutionally required contingent election would be held on January 6, 2041, in place of the normal congressional certification of electoral college votes. On January 6, 2041, the newly elected 127th Congress assembled in Washington D.C. with the purpose of electing a new president and vice president. At the same time as the beginning of the contingent election, Governor Ron DeSantis held a rally outside the Capitol Building to Republican supporters, encouraging them to march on Congress and halt the "corrupt" proceedings. By 2pm, protestors and Republican supporters had begun to occupy the grounds of the Capitol, before breaching the west front of the legislative building. Despite resistance from Capitol police, the rioters succeeded in seizing control of the building, marking the first time since 1814 that the Capitol had been forcefully captured. With the twin houses of Congress held hostage by illegally armed rioters, President Alexandria Raines declared martial law in the territory of Washington D.C. and ordered chairman of the joint chiefs General Mark Milley to deploy the army to recapture the Capitol building; under Milley's command, the Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C. national guard divisions were activated, and took control over the federal district by 5pm.

With the start of a siege around the Capitol building and the capture of Vice President Ocasio-Cortez, General Mark Milley and the military administration of Washington D.C. announced in the evening of January 6, 2041 that Congress would not resume session to certify results until every member of both chambers had been freed. During the siege, newly elected House Speaker Andrew Biggs was shot in the chest on January 8th as the military reclaimed control of the building, with Biggs dying hours after military control in the chamber was resumed. Despite having freed the twin houses of Congress, General Milley ordered the relocation of members to military bases across the country; in response, President Raines and Secretary of Defence Robyn Cohen held a joint press conference on January 10, 2041 denying that the order had come from them, and encouraged the army to allow elected members of congress to convene for a contingent presidential election. On January 12, 2041, General Milley and Senate president pro tempore Robert Menendez held secret political re-stabilisation talks in Washington D.C., before meeting with President Raines and Vice President Ocasio-Cortez at the White House to negotiate a way out of the constitutional crisis. Through the duration of the crisis, the value of the dollar rapidly depreciated as investors moved their funds into different economies, further hastening the political need for a peaceful resolution. Despite political and economic pressure to resolve the constitutional crisis, the 2037 - 2041 presidential term expired on January 20, 2041 without the election of a new president or vice president to fill the executive branch; with the vacancy of both executive offices, president pro tempore Robert Menendez became acting president of the United States due to his position as the highest ranked elected official in the country, following the death of speaker Andrew Biggs and the House of Representatives' inability to elect a new speaker. Menendez's acting presidency marked the first time that anyone lower down the order of precedence than vice president had assumed the presidency, and the first time that anyone had held the office of acting president on a permanent basis.

## See Also

 January 20, 2033 - January 20, 2037
 January 20, 2029 - January 20, 2033