2032 United States Presidential Election (Rubio, Harris)

The 2032 United States presidential election took place on Tuesday, November 2, 2032. It was the 62nd quadrennial presidential election. Voters selected presidential electors who voted on December 14, 2032,[2] to select a new president and vice president. The election occured simultaneously alongside elections for the House of Representatives, Senate, and various state and local-level elections.

The Presidential Election was the first presidential election where Puerto Rico was allowed to vote following its statehood being granted in 2029. Puerto Rico was granted 6 electoral votes. Therefore, the required number of electoral votes necessary to win the presidency was increased to 273. The election was also the first following the statehood of Washington D.C. also in 2029.

The Republican ticket of Florida Senator Marco Rubio and North Carolina Representative Madison Cawthorn defeated the Democratic ticket of former incumbent President Kamala Harris and incumbent Vice President Jon Ossoff. Rubio received 290 electoral votes and 50.2% of the popular vote, while Harris received 256 electoral votes and 48.9% of the popular vote.

Background
The 2020’s had seen immense progress in technology with a great expansion of the electric, self-driving car market and of the artificial intelligence market. This only stimulated the already fast-growing economy, which only continued growing after Harris re-election in 2028. By mid 2031, the US unemployment rate had reached a historic low of 3.3%. However, simultaneously GDP growth was slowing and the Yield Curve inverted in the spring of 2031. The Harris Administration attempted to prevent an economic collapse by issuing bank holidays and buying up government bonds.

However, the technological market crashed in October 2031 setting into motion the Financial Crisis of 2031-2032. GDP growth became negative while unemployment levels rose to 10.6%. Apart from the technological market, the economic collapse was worsened by the amounting tensions between China and India. In November 2031, China had falsely declared an Indian military attack in the Tibet Region and used it as an excuse to declare war on India. The Great Sino-Indian War broke out the same week. Kamala Harris was criticized for not providing an effective response in mitigating the conflict.

Democratic Nomination
As Kamala Harris had served as President for less than two years in the remainder of Biden’s second term, the 22nd Amendment didn’t prevent her from running for the Presidency again. . The only serious opposition to Harris came from the Progressive Wing of the Democratic Party from New York Senator Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. However, after performing well in the Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada Primaries, Ocasio-Cortez dropped out and Harris was, once again, easily renominated by the Democratic Party. Jon Ossoff was also renominated as her running mate.

Republican Nomination
The Republican Party had not won the popular vote once since 2004. However, following the spontaneous events of the fall of 2031, the party was feeling energized and revitalized.

The Republican Presidential Primaries had once again broke the U.S record for the largest party primary. Notable candidates included former Ambassador to the United Nations and the Party’s former Presidential Nominee Nikki Haley, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, and rising star 37-year-old North Carolina Representative Madison Cawthorn. However, the front-runner for the nomination was Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Rubio was well-liked for his charisma, eloquence in speeches, and appeal to minority voters.

Rubio won the Iowa Caucuses followed by Cruz, Hawley, and Cawthorn. Rubio also won the New Hampshire followed by Hawley, then Cruz. After the New Hampshire primary, Haley dropped her campaign and endorsed Rubio. Rubio once again won in South Carolina, while Cruz won Nevada. Following the primaries, Populist candidate Josh Hawley dropped his campaign, although he didn’t endorse anyone. On Super Tuesday, Rubio still held the plurality of delegates followed by Cruz and Madison Cawthorn. Following Super Tuesday, both Cruz and Cawthorn dropped their campaigns and endorsed Rubio.

In mid-May, Rubio had amassed enough delegates to become the Presumptive Republican Nominee, and chose Madison Cawthorn as his running mate. Rubio became the first Hispanic-American nominee for President from a major political party.

Campaign
Harris campaigned on Keynesian interventionist economic policies to solve the Recession. She emphasized her record on solving the Covid-19 pandemic and dealing with the economic fallout when Vice President for the Biden Administration, and repeated “and we’ll do it again.” Despite many European NATO members joining the conflict by 2032, Harris longed for an American non-interventionist policy with regards to the Great Sino-Indian War.

Rubio emphasized the failing economy and recommended the use of fiscally-conservative economic policy. He distanced himself from the failures of the Trump Administration proclaiming the new “Red Rubio Republicans.” Unlike Haley, Rubio didn’t attempt to appeal to Populist Trump-era Republican voters and instead focused greatly on appealing to minority voters, especially Hispanics. Rubio campaigned for a strongly-interventionist foreign policy in the Sino-Indian conflict declaring China to be an “evil empire” that needs to be beat.

For the duration of the campaign, the polls predicted the race to be extremely close, with Rubio and Harris both polling at around 48% and constantly switching leads. In the final Presidential Debate against Harris, Rubio asked the American voters if they felt save with the Democratic Administration. Rubio’s great debate performance gave him a last-second boost in the polls.

Results
Marco Rubio won the election with 290 electoral votes and 50.2% of the popular vote. Harris came in second place with 256 electoral votes and 48.9% of the popular vote.

Rubio flipped seven states of Texas, Alaska, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. He became the first Republican the popular vote since George Bush in 2004, the first Republican to win Minnesota since Richard Nixon sixty years earlier, and the first Hispanic-American President. Rubio would proceed to lead the nation into intervention in the Great Chinese-Indian War.