Mock Election Senate Elections, October 2017

The Mock Senate Elections in October began early, with Senator Mulcahy of D-3 facing a primary challenge from the right of his Party from Georgia Native A Proud Georgian. Initial polls gave the progressive Mulcahy a towering advantage, however as the race went on, the gap narrowed. Georgian surprised everyone by actually defeating Mulcahy 50%-46%. Georgian went on to win almost 90% in the general race.

Former Republican President Caleb Caron ran in the GOP primary, but dropped out rather quickly and set his sights on the Presidency and then Vice Presidency.

D-1 saw the inactive Sen. Asher not run for reelection at first, opening the door for Kameron Scott, who at the time was running unopposed, but then was challenged for the democratic nomination by Secretary of State Braden Hart, with the latter running for Vice President. Hart ended up defeating Scott in a landslide, getting more than 80% of the vote.
Fernando Diaz, Chief Justice of MEC, took the Republican nomination unopposed. Sadly, he eventually withdrew due to personal issues.
The day of Hart’s nomination, Independent newcomer Dank Underwood announced his candidacy for the seat. Initially, Underwood had minuscule poll numbers, not even hitting double digits. Once Diaz dropped out, Underwood’s number increased to 30%. Underwood ran a rough campaign, pushing out ad after ad after ad and speech after speech. He was highly critical of Hart supposed “carpet-bagginng” and his policies. Many voters were critical of the harshness of Underwood’s campaign, citing it as inappropriate behavior. Underwood was also heavily attacked for his miscommunication between constituents on his utilization of a Political Action Committee he founded.
After two days of being the nominee, Hart stepped aside once the incumbent Asher returned to MEC. His return came after a month of Absence, but the Senator still sprung back up in the polls.
For the first couple of days before the election, polls were extremely close; some being 50/50, some leaning for either candidate. The day of the election began with Asher holding a lead, but the night ended with a 49-49 tie between the two, neither being able to reach over 50%. Ethan Kelly announced the next day that a run-off would need to be held.
Throughout the run-off period, Asher dominsted the polls, getting over 60% in the preliminary run by the America News Network (ANN). Reports from sources inside the Underwood campaign claimed that Underwood was communicating with key members of the Democratic Establishment, attempting to sway their vote. At this current time, their reports are still unconfirmed.
On the evening of Monday, October 30th –days after the initial election– Incumbent Asher called Underwood to concede the race. Shortly after he made a public speech announcing his concession. Everyone was shocked, including Underwood himself (who aparently, according to his constituents, was preparing to deliver HIS concession speech). Asher cited preparing for his race to the White House in Season 10 as his reasoning for conceding, including other factors.
On November 4th, Election Day, Underwood won a huge percentage of the vote, winning over 90%. Around 10% went to “Other”, which most assume were write-in votes for Asher.

In D-2, the resigned Sen. Cunnigham's seat, a competitive race between Democrat Joe Portillo and Libertarian Mariela Krenzel took place. The race ended up going to a run-off where Portillo dominated the hardly active Libertarian.

In D-4, Senator Delaney, supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, was re-elected handily, although he faced slight opposition.

Most pundits agreed the Senate would likely remain in Democratic hands with many Democratic-held seats being unopposed or being heavily in favor of the incumbents. That prediction stayed true, with District 1 being the exception.

## Candidates

### District 1

* Dank Underwood (I) (Elected)
* Benjamin Asher (D) - Incumbent (Withdrew)
* Braden Hart (D) - Secretary of State (Withdrew)
* Fernando Diaz (R) - Perenial candidate (Withdrew)
* Kameron Scott (D) - Former Congressman for House District 3 (Eliminated in Primary)

### District 2

* Joe Portillo (D) - Perenial candidate (Elected)
* Mariela Krenzel (L) (Defeated)
* Christian Louthan (R) - Former President And Former vice president (Withdrew)
* Jayanth Karuturi(Left) (Defeated)

### District 3

* A Proud Georgian (D) (Elected)
* Grayson Horner (I) (Defeated)
* Oran Mulcahy (D) - Incumbent (Eliminated in Primary)

### District 4

* David Delaney (D) - Incumbent (Elected)
* Cooper A-J (Left) (Defeated)