2040 United States presidential election

The **2040 United States presidential election** was the 64th and final regular quadrennial election for the American presidency, taking place on Tuesday November 6, 2040. The race served as a re-match between incumbent President Alexandria Raines and Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, and was the first election since 1824 to result in an electoral college draw. Despite the constitutional requirement under the Twelfth Amendment for the joint chambers of Congress to hold a contingent election for the presidency and vice presidency, the electoral process was disrupted by a riot and was indefinitely delayed. On January 20, 2041, with no elected officeholder, Senate president pro tempore Robert Menendez automatically became acting president of the United States, thanks to his position as the most senior politician constitutionally still in office.

The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses took place between February and June 2040, staggered among the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. This nominating process was also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of delegates to a political party's nominating convention, who in turn elected their party's presidential nominee. Within the Democratic party, incumbent President Alexandria Raines and Vice President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez easily won re-nomination. Similarly, former Republican candidate Ron DeSantis was able to win re-nomination on his claims that the 2036 presidential election was subject to widespread electoral fraud, selecting former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to be his running mate.

During the election campaign, Governor 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. At 5:30pm ET, masked members of the Proud Boys paramilitary group broadcast a message to President Raines, accusing her of electoral fraud and threatening to execute Democratic members of Congress unless she conceded the election - in retaliation, Raines authorised the use of lethal force to recapture the building, sparking intense fighting on Capitol hill as paramilitary groups within the building fired upon the armed forces.

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.