Season 4 Presidential Election

The **Season 4 Presidential Election of Discord Election Simulator** was held

March 12, 2021 - March 13, 2021. Hillary Cunningham was elected for her first term as President of the United States.

The election put up the Democratic ticket of House Speaker, Hillary Riley Cunningham and incumbent District Three Senator, Lucas Underwood against Incumbent Senator of District Rachel S. Harper and incumbent Senator of District Two, Kenneth Allen. This election was notable for the rather low turnout and the best showing for an Independent candidate in DES history.

The election "officially" began when Sen. Charlie Williams (R-MA) registered to run for president on February 23, 2021. Shortly after on the same day, Sen. Rachel Harper (I-TX) also signed up to seek the presidency.

## **Republican Primary**

**Declared**

. Vice President Trey Cranfield

**Withdrew**

. Sen. Charlie Williams (R-MA)

. Ryan Hermlock

#### **Campaigning and Convention**

Republican primaries began when Sen. Charlie Williams signed up to run for president on February 23, 2021. Hours later, Ryan Hermlock of Florida announced his candidacy. The following day, Vice President Trey Cranfield also announced his candidacy for President of the United States.

    Vice President Trey Cranfield, being the Republican chairman, had recused himself from the primary process and instead gave the running of the primary to President Benjamin Bryant who swore against any bias during the process.
On February 25th, as Vice President Cranfield was the only person in the Republican race, he announced that his running mate would Sen. Edwin House (R-CA). As soon as this occurred, House was criticized for Senate inactivity, however House began to campaign in large amounts and doing lots of work for the Cranfield campaign.

> ***"Good afternoon, Albany! Wow, what a day it is here in upstate New York. My mother was born a couple hours west of here in Rochester, New York, a quaint and urban city with welcoming citizens and amazing landmarks. I am pleased to be joining you all today as we continue our push and lay out our vision and plan for the future of America. The fact of the matter is, former President Cunningham has laid out plans that are simply unfeasible for the success of our nation, and her history has shown us that hard work is clearly absent from her agenda. Not only did we see that during the tragic Richmond Crisis, but most recently in her selection of Ashton Sinclair as her running-mate. I'm pretty sure I would've respected Representative Abdullah more than Mr. Sinclair!"***
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    ***Excerpt from Cranfield Campaign Rally in Albany, NY (28-02-2021)***

Notable is the endorsement and activism by Fmr. Vice President Jakob Ainsley, or which brought not-needed controversy to the campaign and could be contributed the campaign's demise and free-fall in polling.

The RNC was announced to be in New York City, NY. However, on March 6, 2021, the day of the conference, as the only candidate in the Republican race, Vice President Cranfield dropped out of the race due low polling numbers and overall dissatisfaction.

## **Democratic Primary**

**Declared**

. Hillary Riley Cunningham (Nominee)

**Withdrew**

. Sen. Kenneth Allen (D-MI)

With the announcement of the Democratic nominee of the Season 3 election and current House of Representatives Speaker, Hillary Cunningham on February 23, the field of Democratic candidates remained stable through out the election. Sen. Kenneth Allen (D-MI) announced a campaign, but ultimately gained no support, which prompted him to quickly withdraw. As soon as Cunningham announced, noteable Republicans, including Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Robert Abdullah endorsed her. Following suit, was Republican Conference Chair, Axl Rose.

Shortly following, speculation began to grow on whether or not Abdullah would be named Cunningham's Vice Presidential candidate. Abdullah, releasing a statement on February 24, 2021, denied the allegations and speculation saying:

> *"I would like to dispel the conversation that I will be serving as a running mate for any candidate, I will be staying in the legislative branch to focus on passing/writing more legislation. I thank everyone for their consideration, but I believe representing the people is more important. Thank You."*
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It was eventually to be leaked by sources that Cunningham was infact going to chose Abdullah as her running mate, nearly two weeks before the primary and three before the election. However, all these endorsements were to soon be retracted and switched to the Republican Cranfield campaign. At the time, reports of blackmail and threats were made, but did not become sufficient for any action.

With Abdullah dropped from the ticket, Cunningham searched for another person to fill the vacancy. On February 27, 2021, Speaker Cunningham announced that the replacement for Abdullah would be freshman congressman, Ashton Sinclair (D-MA), Quickly, Cunningham would once again be in hot water for choosing one of the most "inexperienced" people possible and questions regarding the motives of the nominated lingered. Shortly after the announcement, Sinclair was dropped from the ticket.

Cunningham continued their campaign without a running mate until the 6th of March, 2021, the day of the convention. There, she announced that her pick and replacement for Sinclair would be freshman Senator, Lucas Underwood (D-VA). In the announcement, Cunningham said:

> *"For the past few days my campaign and I have thought extremely hard about who to replace Representative Sinclair with. After all the discussions and vetting, I've decided to go with someone who I know is ready to serve on day one, and ready to take the responsibility of being President if needed. Senator Lucas Underwood (D-VA) has been a staunch fighter for criminal justice reform, climate change action, and other crucial policies. I am excited for Lucas to join me on this campaign, and I look forward to the rest of the campaign ahead."*
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***Excerpt from Cunningham for America Announcement (06-03-2021)***

## General Election Campaigning

With the dropping out of Vice President Cranfield during the first day of the general election campaign, left Speaker Cunningham and a once thought joke candidate, Sen. Rachel Harper, who ran a strictly regional candidacy.

Many Republicans who supported the Vice President, including Minority Leader Abdullah, began to voice their support for the once thought joke campaign. Out of the gate, the Harper campaign made a very unexpected announcement regarding the Vice Presidential nomination. Harper would choose Democratic chairman, Sen. Kenneth Allen as his running mate and would continue his campaign on one of unity and disenfranchisement of the current political class and system.

> *"This mismanagement has been caused by one thing and one thing only, that my friends is the 2 party system, 2 parties left to forever have free reign with no chance of any further political organizations even having a chance to win presidential elections. This has let quality slip across the nation, let anyone do whatever they please, without any repercussions, further proof the 2-party system is dead. I, however am here to change this trend, set the nation back on track, get congress to do what is needed to be done to return the heart and economic soul of the United States."*
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***Excerpt from Harper Campaign Rally (07/03/2021)***

The Harper campaign ran advertisements like none DES has seen with state signs and even a website with merchandise and donation pages. Of which can be found here: https://sites.google.com/view/rachel-for-america/home?authuser=0

The campaign went on for weeks and was regarded as a fairly clean campaign with little attacks. With campaign rallies being popped out a rapid rates, at one time, more than five for every few minutes.

The Cunningham campaign attacked the Harper campaign on the basis of absent votes, more specifically the vote Carbon Tax (proposed by Sen. Harry Bennett (R-WA) and her bill that legalized the sale of Kinder Eggs. This was just the tip of the iceberg in regards to the attacks against the campaign. One that was frequently played was that the opposing views of the neo-conservative Harper and the progressive Allen and that it would get in the way of negotiations and working with congress.

The Harper campaign argued that Underwood was inexperienced and that due to the lack of diversity on the opposing ticket that there would be no negotiating and bipartisan work effort from the White House to Congress.

Two debates were hosted during this election, the Vice Presidential Debate in St. Paul, MN at Hamline University and the Presidential at Duke University in Durham, NC. Polling was mixed on who won the Vice Presidential Debate, but polling was clear on the Presidential Debate that Cunningham destroyed Harper with one-liners and "burns."

It was clear heading towards the campaign that Cunningham had the advantage and through election night, Cunningham had a demanding lead that began to shrink over time. However, the momentum was too strong for the Harper campaign to overcome and Cunningham went on to win by one of the most narrow margins in DES history.