Election of 2016 (Durant Scenario)

Presidential Election Results
The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence lost to the Democratic ticket of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and U.S. senator from Virginia Tim Kaine, in what was considered one of the closest elections in American history. Clinton took office as the 45th president, and Kaine as the 48th president, on January 20, 2017. Clinton became the first female vice president, the first southern president since George W. Bush, the first New York president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the first Secretary of State to become president since James Buchanan.

The Clinton-Kaine ticket took 308 electoral votes and 52.5% of the popular vote. Clinton lost the 2012 Obama states of Ohio and Iowa. The Trump-Pence ticket took 213 electoral votes and 41.3% of the popular vote. Evan McMullin ran as an independent for president with Libertarian Gary Johnson as his running mate; they won the states of Utah and Arizona, taking 17 electoral votes and 6.2% of the popular vote.

The tone of the general election campaign was widely characterized as divisive and negative. Trump faced controversy over his views on race and immigration, incidents of violence against protestors at his rallies, and numerous sexual misconduct allegations including the Access Hollywood tape. Clinton's popularity and public image were tarnished by concerns about her ethics and trustworthiness, and a controversy and subsequent FBI investigation regarding her improper use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state, which received more media coverage than any other topic during the campaign.

Clinton led in almost every nationwide and swing-state poll with some experts predicting a landslide; however as the election neared her margins decreased. On Election Day, Trump over-performed his polls, winning several key swing-states, while losing the popular vote by 3.87 million votes. Trump was the first major candidate with neither prior public service nor military experience; he would go on to become president in 2020.

On January 6, 2017, the United States Intelligence Community concluded that the Russian government had interfered in the 2016 elections in order to "undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency." A Special Counsel investigation of alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign began in May 2017 and ended in March 2019. The investigation concluded that Russian interference to favor Trump's candidacy occurred "in sweeping and systematic fashion", but it "did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government."

House and Senate Results
2016 was a competitive year in the House and Senate. The Republicans lost seats in both Houses of Congress and lost control of the Senate with a 51/50 majority through the vice president's tie-breaking vote. However, the Republicans held 222 seats in the House to the Democrats' 213. Paul Ryan was re-elected Speaker with Nancy Pelosi as the minority leader.

Gubernatorial Results
Ten states had gubernatorial elections: Washington, Oregon, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, Missouri, Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Vermont, and New Hampshire. While Republicans gained Vermont and New Hampshire, Democrats held onto Missouri and gained North Carolina.