United States presidential election, 2036 (Stefanik, Ocasio-Cortez)

The 2036 United States presidential election took place on Tuesday, November 6, 2036. It will be the 63rd quadrennial presidential election. Voters selected presidential electors who voted on December 14, 2024,[2] to select a new president and vice president. The election will occur simultaneously alongside elections for the House of Representatives, Senate, and various state and local-level elections.

It was generally considered that Marco Rubio had a strong presidency. The economy fully recovered, Hispanic and African-American minorities and immigrants had greater opportunities than ever before, and his excellent handling of the Great Asian Indian-Chinese War. However, environmental problems global became even worse as the Earth continued warming and some coastal states began getting flooded.

Over 42 Republicans came out as nominees to become Rubio's successor. They included vice president Ted Cruz, former national security advisor Nikki Haley, Texas Senator Dan Crenshaw, and Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan. Cruz was leading for most of the primary season, however, many Republicans considered him to be too conservative for the fiscally conservative but socially progressive, immigrant and minority friendly party.

In early April, following good debate performances dark horse candidate New York Representative Elise Stefanik placed second in the polls. By early May, she became the more liberal alternative to Cruz. Although Cruz was leading in delegates heading into the convention, Stefanik got the nominations from many Republicans such as Haley and Crenshaw and earned just enough delegates on the second ballot to become the Republican nominee. This was the first time the party selected a woman as their nominee for president.

Although Ocasio-Cortez lost the 1932 election in a landslide, she remained very popular and was elected New York Governor in 1934. Ocasio-Cortez remained a great environmental activist and grew extremely popular in coastal states experiencing flooding problems. Her opponents for the Democratic nomination included Texas Senator Beto O'Rourke and Georgia Governor Keisha Lance Bottoms. In a close convention, Ocasio-Cortez was once again nominated by the Democrats.

Throughout the campaign, Stefanik emphasized the strong economic recovery, social and foreign policy under the Republican administration, while Ocasio-Cortez focused on the growing number of environmental issues. Early polling suggested a Stefanik victory, but Ocasio-Cortez caught up after a few good debate performances. Polls a week before election day were putting Ocasio-Cortez at 48% and Stefanik at 47%.

In the end, Stefanik performed better than most polls suggested winning 336 electoral votes and 49.8% of the popular vote. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez finished second getting 202 electoral votes and 47.9% of the popular vote. Elise Stefanik became the first woman to be elected president of the United States. With this election, the demographic trends of Hispanic and African-Americans voting Republican continued. Democratic support mostly consisted of young, white, urban people concerned about the environment.