United States presidential election, 2044 (Haley, O'Rourke)

The 2044 United States presidential election took place on Tuesday, November 6, 2044. It will be the 65th 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.

Beto O'Rourke has had a successful first term. The world was peaceful, and the economy recovered and was booming. Despite a corruption scandal including the O'Rourke administration taking bribes from Delta Airlines in exchange for political favors, O'Rourke was easily renominated by the Democratic Party.

The early frontrunner for the Republican nomination was former Vice President Ted Cruz, but he died of a heart attack on August 8th, 2039. After Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan refused to seek the nomination due to health problems, it looked like a race between former national security advisor Nikki Haley who represented the conservative side of the party and Washington Governor Jaime Herrera Beutler who represented the liberal side of the party.

However, after winning the Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire primary, little-known Missouri Senator and businessman Jason Smith became a serious contender. Smith represented the ultra-right-wing unknown to the party since Donald Trump. He gained mass support and created an immense grassroots movement. Nevertheless, heading into the convention Haley has the most delegates and she won the nomination.

O'Rourke campaigned on the strong economy and peaceful world situation, while Haley tried stressing the political scandals revolving O'Rourke's administration. Haley also tried bringing back some of the Southern former Republican states that O'Rourke won in the 1940 election. O'Rourke was consistently ahead for most of the election, polling 7-8% above Haley, but after a few good debate performances, Haley closed the gap to about 3-4%. A week before the election, O'Rourke was polling at 51% and Haley was polling at 47%.

Beto O'Rourke won re-election getting 386 electoral votes and 53.0% of the popular vote. Haley finished second getting 152 electoral votes and 45.8% of the popular vote. O'Rourke became the first Democrat to get re-elected since Barrack Obama in 2012.