United States presidential election, 2048 (Smith, Cunningham)

The 2048 United States presidential election took place on Tuesday, November 2, 2048. It will be the 66th quadrennial presidential election. Voters selected presidential electors who voted on December 14, 2048,[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 is considered to be the most controversial election in modern times.

Overall, Beto O'Rourke has had a successful presidency. The economy was booming, the world was at peace, and it was looking as if an environmental crisis has been averted. Despite much good, the O'Rourke administration has had a series of corruption and political scandals with O'Rourke giving important legislative jobs to his friends and family and taking bribes from many corporations such as Delta Airlines.

By 2043, the Democratic party was split between its progressive and moderate wings. The leading Democratic candidates to take O'Rourke's place were former Georgia Governor Keisha Lance Bottoms who represented the progressive side of the party, South Carolina Senator Joe Cunningham who represented the moderate side of the party and California Governor Josh Harder who tried to become the "unity candidate."

In a close race, Joe Cunningham won the nomination on the second ballot of the convention, getting just 2 more delegates than the required amount. In order to unite a torn and also try to win the state of Georgia (which was an important swing state), Cunningham chose Bottoms as his running mate.

In the meantime, the Republican party was just as split as the Democrats. The moderate-conservative side of the party of Texas Senator Dan Crenshaw and former Florida governor Ron DeSantis was rivaled by the right-wing "Trumpist" wing of the party championed by Missouri Senator Jason Smith. Although 2044 saw a win for the moderates, in 2048 Smith's grassroots movement overtook and Jason Smith became the frontrunner for the Republican nomination by February. He got enough delegates to get the nomination on May 12th and selected businessman Scott Duncan as his running mate.

Joe Cunningham tried to distance himself from the corruption under O'Rourke but took credit for the fantastic economy, foreign and environmental situation under a Democratic administration. Jason Smith travelled the country giving immense rallies and powerful speeches. He highlighted corruption scandals under O'Rourke and criticized Cunningham for just being "part of the corrupt establishment." Although initial polls in May showed Cunningham ahead by 5%, Smith quickly caught up and by August was even leading Cunningham by 3%.

Southern states such as Texas, Lousiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina were especially important in this election, so both candidates attempted to appeal to Southern voters. Cunningham appealed by associating himself with O'Rourke who was still really popular there, while Smith hosted large right-wing rallies some of which were criticized as being racist. A week before the election, Smith was polling at 50% while Cunningham was polling at 48% nationwide.

The results for the 2048 election were the most controversial in modern history. After a long night, by 5:30 AM on Tuesday it seemed as if Jason Smith had won, winning Texas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississipi, and Alabama and receiving 283 electoral votes. However at 9:00 AM on Wednesday, Georgia went back under being "too close to call" as Smith's lead had shrunk to just 147 votes. Without the state of Georgia, Smith was at 267 electoral votes and Cunningham was at 251 electoral votes and both needed the state to win.

For a week, Georgia held recounts and by next Monday had concluded that Joe Cunningham had won by 389 votes, which made Cunningham the president-elect. Jason Smith's team vouched for more recounts and hired a special investigator to look into the state's voting. Two weeks later, Cunningham's lead has shrunk to 346 votes. However, the next day the Smith campaign filed a lawsuit against the Cunningham campaign for Keisha Lance Bottoms using her influence as former Georgia governor to help Cunningham in the election by putting more polling locations in Democratic areas of the state and discouraging Republicans from voting in other ways. The case went through, but Cunningham's team filed for an appeal until the case eventually made it to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruled Bottoms' actions as unconstitutional and demanded a new election to be held in the state of Georgia. The election was scheduled for December 2nd, less than two weeks before the Electoral College met. After the results came in, it first looked like Smith had won with 99.1% of votes counted. Smith was declared as the president-elect, However, after 2 days, after a further recount, head of Georgia's electoral commission Anna Ruffel declared that with 100% of the votes counted, Cunningham won by just 34 votes.

The deadline for Georgia's votes was set to December 11th. After a week of recounts, it has been confirmed that Cunningham had won by just 12 votes. Although the Smith campaign attempted to file suit, it was rejected by the Georgia Court of Appeals.

Cunningham was declared president of the United States on December 14th. In the national popular vote, Jason Smith got 49.5% while Joe Cunningham got 48.6%. Smith got over 1,500,000 more votes than Cunningham, making this election the 6th time a candidate won the electoral college without winning the popular vote. Massive protests broke out on the streets, attempting to stop Cunningham from taking office. Cunningham had the lost approval rating of any president first taking office of just 41%.