Matthew Andrews

President Andrews at a photo shoot, January 11, 2065

**Matthew Jordan Andrews** (July 5, 2009 – December 28, 2108) was an American politician who served as the 54th President of the United States from 2057 to 2065. Prior to assuming the presidency, Andrews served as the 56th Vice President of the United States from 2053 to 2057. As a member of the Democratic Party, he had previously been a U.S. Representative, Governor, and Mayor. He led the United States through World War III and the Andrews' War with Russia, later considered part of the greater world war. His administration was considered one of the most adept and competent in American history, utilizing efficiency and pragmatism to transition America out of what is now viewed as the Crisis of the 21st Century, a decades-long period of American history in which severe partisanship and divisive rhetoric as well as political corruption and biased mass media threatened to plunge the United States into a second civil war or incite violent civil unrest.

He was born in Boulder, Colorado on July 5, 2009, to Samuel Benjamin Andrews and Bridget Marie Mason Andrews, an accountant and a professor at CU Boulder, respectively. Following the election of Donald Trump, the Andrews family became engaged in political office. Bridget Andrews ran, and lost, for a city council position in Boulder in 2018, but would go on to win office as city councilor in 2022. Samuel was appointed financial adviser to the Mayor of Denver in 2024. In 2027, Matthew attended the University of Colorado Boulder. Graduating in 2031 with a B.A. in pre-law, he attended Stanford for his J.D. in constitutional law. Soon after graduating in 2036, Andrews became involved in politics. He won his first race for Mayor of Thornton, Colorado, running on a platform of anti-corruption and populism. He chose not to run for reelection and instead ran in 2038 for Congress in Colorado's 7th District, which he won by a landslide of 63-39. While in Congress, Andrews served on the House Ethics Committee. Andrews won reelection in 2040. During his four-year tenure in the House, Andrews spearheaded a movement for accountability and stricter regulation of campaign finance implemented by the Warren administration, working closely and forming a strong personal and professional relationship with President Raskin.

In 2042, Andrews shocked his constituents by announcing his desire to run for Mayor of Denver, claiming the "corruption in Denver runs deep," and endorsed his future successor, Taliyah Robinson. Andrews defeated Republican incumbent, Jre Lewis, for Mayor of Denver in a landslide 72-29 victory. His tenure as Mayor of Denver was revolutionary for the city. He passed massive infrastructure bills that revitalized Denver's roads and railways. As mayor, he sponsored legislation on campaign finance regulation and reform and lobbied the State House of Representatives for a popular bill that would break the gerrymandering in the state. After the bill lost, Andrews again became a national figure, appearing on multiple media outlets chastising his state legislature for action. In 2046, the House passed the bill, but Governor Dray refused to sign it. That's when Andrews announced his desire to run for Governor of Colorado. In 2046, Mayor Andrews defeated Democratic incumbent, Governor Samantha Dray, arguing she was bought and sold by corporations in Colorado, namely Antero Resources and Western Union. As governor, Andrews pushed for stricter state regulations on oil and gas companies, as well as financial and trade groups. Although popular at the time, Andrews' policies drove major corporations out of Colorado and led to an economic downturn, for which he was blamed. In his last year before reelection, Andrews passed sweeping reforms of state campaign finance and term limits that boosted his popularity. After grappling with a Republican-controlled senate, Andrews negotiated a subsidy plan for workers, especially those who had lost their jobs due to corporations leaving the state. Andrews narrowly won reelection in 2050 against his opponent, State Senator Janine Howell.

His second term was short-lived, as he became mired in the national presidential race, teasing a potential run in the Democratic primary as early as 2051. When the primaries came around in 2052, Andrews declined to run, instead endorsing Speaker of the House, Tulsi Gabbard, and leading her charge in his state, in which she won the state primary. After Gabbard was declared the party nominee to challenge incumbent President Stewart, she tapped Andrews as her vice presidential nominee, reportedly because his approval in Colorado was tanking due to the economic slump. In July, 2052, Andrews accepted the party nomination for vice president. Gabbard and Andrews ran on a campaign of restoring confidence in the American system. It was well-received and the two were elected to office, defeating President Stewart, Andrews securing a political landmark moment in his debate with Vice President Dalton, where he accused her of being a puppet of Sysco and the Houston Big Oil political machine. As vice president, Andrews worked closely with President Gabbard to pull the United States out of overseas wars and reform the Defense Department. Gabbard was largely unable to get her agenda through a Republican Congress, but Andrews' media savvy pinned her political defeats on the Republican Party, which largely legitimized the Gabbard administration as an administration looking out for the people, which painted the Republican Congress as corrupt and part of the problem with America. Andrews' rhetoric was also very populist and unifying, vocalizing his distaste with partisanship and calling out news outlets he went on for biased questioning and for profiting off the division of America, harking back to Presidents Warren and Raskin. In 2055, President Gabbard announced her decision not to run for reelection. Andrews, a month later, announced his run for president, winning the endorsement of President Gabbard, who was very popular at the time.

Andrews won the nomination for his party and ran against Senator James Everett of Indiana, a political powerhouse for the Republican Party establishment. Andrews defeated Everett in what is considered one of the most defining presidential races of the century, in which the Washington establishment's figurehead was defeated decisively by a political populist. After entering office, Andrews passed sweeping campaign finance reforms and regulations. Andrews also made a habit of appearing regularly on media outlets, personally keeping his social media platforms up-to-date and active, and hosting presidential live-streams from the Oval Office, where he would take real questions from viewers and converse with people in real time. Not long after taking office, however, Andrews was faced with major foreign policy questions, which were not a focus of his campaign, nor an area of his own expertise. Nevertheless, tensions with Russia were escalating as Sergei Ivanov had coalesced much central administration of Russia into his hands during the previous administrations and had passed it on to a more vocal, aggressive dictator, Ivan Rusakov, shortly before Gabbard left office.

Andrews' administration dealt with Russia via sanctions and levying pressure on the United Nations for global repercussions and a temporary suspension from the Security Council. After all of these measures failed, Andrews was lambasted publicly. His Secretary of State, former Ohio Governor Karen Strodel, made frequent visits to Moscow and his Secretary to the United Nations, Fairuza Nasserizafar, lobbied for Russian sanctions. Meanwhile, Rusakov was propping up Serbian dictator, Karmin Russo, who was impressing his influence over the former Yugoslav republics. After Russo invaded Albania, a global coalition was supported by most of the Security Council, but stonewalled by Rusakov's detail. Following Russo's expansions into Romania, Greece, Hungary, Moldavia, Ukraine, and Turkey, Egyptian autocrat, Darius Nazif's, expansion into northern Africa and the Middle East, China's establishment of a system of satellite states in their region and support of Russo and Nazif, as well as Russo's espionage network that permeated the American State Department, the United States, led by Andrews and his cabinet, resolved to strike Yugoslavia and prepare for a large scale global conflict.

Russo, catching wind of this plot, struck an America navy platform in the northern Atlantic Ocean, crippling America's espionage network in Eastern Europe. World War III broke out shortly after, with America gaining the support of then recently formed European Federation, English Republic, and the federalized superstate, the Republic of Asia. The massive conflict had many theaters, with Asia tending to China and Egypt, and America, Europe, and England tending to Yugoslavia.

Bush died at home on November 30, 2018, aged 94. At the time of his death, he was the longest-lived American president in history, followed closely by Jimmy Carter, who was born a few months later; his post-presidency of over 25 years was the fourth longest in history, after Carter, Herbert Hoover and Ford. Bush's death also leaves Carter as the only living former one-term American president.