Mock Election Senate Election in District 6, Dec. 2017

Mock Election Senate Election in District 6, Dec. 2017

The Mock Election Senate elections for the sixth District took place on December 2nd, 2017. The candidates running were the Democratic Incumbent, David Delaney running for a third term, the Libertarian nominee, Mish Fox, and Republican challenger, Conservative Chico.

## Background

The Senate election for the sixth district saw the popular Democratic Incumbent David Delaney run for a third term to serve in the MEC Senate. However, Republican challenger who was a new member at the time, Conservative Chico, announced his bid to unseat the popular Senator. The early days of the election saw the popular incumbent winning the election by large margins against his Republican challenger. However, the race was increasingly becoming competitive as the weeks went by. Many members were shocked by the competitive nature of this race as many expected Delaney to easily walk away with Re-Election.

## Candidates

### Republican

* Conservative Chico - Republican Nominee

### Democratic

* David Delaney - Incumbent Senator of District 6

## General Election

The General Election was a relatively clean campaign as neither candidates attacked one another. However, a minor controversy occurred as one of Conservative Chico's supporters created a campaign ad that suggested his opponent was a communist. However, Conservative Chico was able to defend himself as he did not order or approve of the ad and would apologize to the Senator shortly after. The controversy would have little affect on the general election as both candidates were campaigning and drawing attention towards the issues. Both candidates were stark contrasts in many ways in terms of conservative & progressive policies. During the senatorial debates, Chico argued his conservative ideals such as cutting the corporate tax rate, being doubtful of raising the minimum wage, and criticizing MulcahyCare. However, Delaney would ultimately win the first debate. The second debate saw more agreements than differences. Delaney & Chico would find themselves in agreement with issues such as terrorism, the Iraq War, and even the effectiveness of trickle down economics. In these debates, Conservative Chico relied on his consistent stances and his oratory skills while David Delaney relied on emphasizing his record as Senator and his accomplishments. Issues such as tax reform & healthcare were at the forefront this election and both candidates had made their input. Conservative Chico would position himself as a candidate with economic promise arguing for being business friendly by lowering the corporate tax, lowering the income tax, and increasing competition in the free market. David Delaney would position himself as being the bi-partisan candidate who has made real progress on many of these issues already, essentially arguing to not fix something that isn't broken.

Both candidates were well spoken and powerful orators during the election cycle. However, Conservative Chico would use any opportunity possible to take the spotlight. After having won the Republican Primaries, Conservative Chico would use this as an opportunity to hold a recorded televised acceptance speech in Rockefeller Center, NY, in which he emphasized his dedication to the sixth district and uniting both Republicans & Democrats to unite under his candidacy. The speech soon gained traction as it was the first time the community could actually listen to Chico himself. Leading up to the election, both candidates were solidifying their base. Conservative Chico had created a grassroots base that consisted of Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives, independents, and even previous Delaney supporters. Delaney's base consisted of largely the same, except conservatives or supporters who had flipped. Delaney had also made his best efforts to excite his progressive base as Chico would do the same effectively. While both candidates had strong bases at this point, both candidates still had disadvantages against each other. While Delaney was an incumbent, a rising anti-incumbency sentiment was growing which saw Chico take advantage to help boost his campaign as the challenger. However, Conservative Chico found it difficult to overcome the strong relationships and approval the Senator had built over the time as Senator in MEC, leaving a limited amount of members to flip towards his column. Both candidates had built serious momentum to the point where the race seemed unpredictable.

## Results of the Election

When polls opened Delaney immediately gained an advantage of votes from his base outperforming Chico in terms of immediate voter turnout, however, Conservative Chico would slowly catch up and keep up the pace as his voters slowly but consistently came out to vote. However, as the election continued, David would consistently stay in first but was still only a few a votes away from Chico. Chico was in need of an upset if he wanted to overcome Delaney in this election. The race was consistently too close too call as no news network could tell what the the final results will be. With 65 votes in at the time of polls closings, David Delaney reach 32 votes with a margin of 49.3%. Conservative Chico would reach 29 votes with a margin of exactly 45%. However, despite David Delaney being in the lead Ethan Kelly would enforce new runoff rules for elections. Meaning neither candidate reached the majority needed being 50%. This meant the District 6 Senate race would go towards a runoff.

## The Runoff

The runoff began on the Monday with Delaney opening up a large lead. This lead varied in size but remained consistent for most of the morning, behind the scenes, Delaney and Chico were in talks and had agreed that Chico would concede. They released a joint google doc together, acknowledging the results of the first round as final. However, the runoff went ahead, with Delaney winning by a larger margin, due to smaller GOP turnout and Chico's concession. Delaney was sworn in within the next few days, winning a razor thin reelection campaign.