US Presidential Election, 2024 (Kanade500)

The US Presidential Election of 2024 was the 60th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 5th 2024. Libertarian nominee Justin Amash won the nomination marking the first time since 1848 since a party besides the Republican and Democratic party won an election. This election would mark the end of the dominance of the Republicans and Democrats, leading the way to a 7th party system era.

In 2021 the USA and NATO were led into a massive global war against the Axis of Resistance, an Islamic, anti-Israel, anti-western alliance that grew in power after various Islamic terrorist groups and nations set aside their differences to resist western intervention. As such it was unknown whether an election could be held with this war, however as the people demanded to have elections the government decided to continue with it.

Background
After Hillary Clinton was re-elected in 2020 for a second term the country began facing a huge economic turmoil as the debt and deficit became unsustainable, politicians began pressuring Clinton to cut down spending however she continued focusing her efforts of invading middle eastern countries to fight the rising threat of ISIS as well as attempting to topple dictators. Her interventionism eventually led to the rise of the Axis of Resistance which declared war on the United States.

The country's inability to finance it's budget deficit eventually led to hyperinflation followed by a plunge in stock prices leading to a monetary collapse. Unemployment rose to over 20% and international trade dropped to an all time low. This economic collapse became quickly known as the Second Great Depression. With the monetary collapse and Clinton's poor leadership against the Axis of Resistance her approval rating dropped below 20% and the Democratic Party was facing a huge crisis with many politicians splitting from the party.

Justin Amash of the Libertarian Party who became one of the first Senators of the party during the 2020 Senate election gained massive popularity as one of the strongest critics of the Clinton administration. He began blaming the economic crisis on Clinton's reckless military spending and refusal to balance the budget, something that the former Libertarian Party candidate Rand Paul strongly emphasized in his campaign. Amash also went on to adopt many of Paul's platform such as non-interventionism, balancing the budget and promoting growth through tax cuts which proved to be very popular.

Elizabeth Warren led the newly formed Labor Party, a party that was formed as a merge between the Green Party, former Democrats, and various Socialist parties. With the depression leading to poor working conditions and massive unemployment Labor Unions saw a huge rise which would go on to make the part a major force. Warren, like Amash, began fiercely criticizing Clinton saying that the Democratic Party abandoned progressive values. She strongly advocated for a Second New Deal to combat the Depression which gained her strong praise among the working class.

Joni Ernst of the Republican Party on the other hand mostly focused on criticizing Clinton's poor leadership during the war. She emphasized that this country right now needed a strong leader who knows how to handle issues such as war. Her reputation as a veteran gained her strong credibility in this regard however many viewed her interventionism as a possible continuation of that of Clinton.

Two other notable minor party candidates where Sean Parker of the Pirate Party who decided to run on cyber and privacy issues and Ivanka Trump who ran on the Constitution Party under the same anti-immigrant anti-free trade rhetoric.

Democratic Party

 * Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York (nominee)
 * Julian Castro, Vice President of the United States
 * Martin O'Malley, former Governor of maryland

After the plunging approval rating of Hillary Clinton the party began collapsing, with many Democratic voters and politicians moving on to the Labor Party the party was in huge crisis. The party was now split between two camps: The Pro-Clinton camp which where called "Clintonites" and the Anti-Clinton camp.

Andrew Cuomo quickly rose as the biggest Anti-Clinton Democrat criticizing her for ruining the party, he gained strong praise for this which led to him to run for the Democratic nomination. Julian Castro on the other hand began defending Clinton's record saying that the depression would've happened regardless of her policies. This alongside his VP position quickly gained him the reputation as the leader of the "Clintonites".

Cuomo fiercely campaigned against Castro arguing that he would represent Clinton's third term, Castro denied this saying that he had a very different platform from Clinton, despite this he still refused to distance himself from Clinton which made him very unpopular among the Anti-Clinton Democrats.

Martin O'Malley also gained strong momentum, he tried to position himself as the true Anti-Clinton Democrat. Accusing Cuomo of secretly being a Clintonite. O'Malley largely emphasized on how he ran against Hillary Clinton back in 2016 which boosted his numbers in the poll.

After a close race between states that leaned pro-clinton and anti-clinton Cuomo eventually emerged as the winner and Castro conceded defeat, ending his political career. Cuomo chose Cory Booker as his running mate.

Republican Party

 * Joni Ernst, Senator from Iowa (Nominee)


 * Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas


 * Tom Cotton, Senator from Arkansas


 * Nikki Haley, Governor of South Carolina

Early on the polls fluctuated between Gregg Abbott and Nikki Haley, both governors with high approval ratings promising a strong conservative record and to make the Republican Party the dominant party once again. Both promising various methods to balance the budget and to recover the economy.

However with the war going on Joni Ernst gained strong praise for her focus on foreign policy rather than economic policy. She argued that the other candidates did not have the experience that she have to solve a war like this and strongly argued that she could lead the country, this gained her strong support among southern conservatives.

Tom Cotton entered the race fairly late, having been reluctant to try another run. His run strongly split the vote between him, Abbott and Haley allowing Ernst to gain strong moment. Abbott eventually left the race early due to military conflict in Texas, endorsing Tom Cotton which allowed Cotton to poll close behind Ernst.

Eventually Joni Ernst won as the voters base against Ernst was largely split between Haley and Cotton. Ernst chose Cotton to be her running mate.

Libertarian Party:

 * Justin Amash, Senator from Michigan (Nominee)


 * Ted Cruz, Senator from Texas


 * Peter Schiff, Businessman and Financial analyst

As Justin Amash strongly rose in popularity he quickly became the clear choice for the Libertarian Party. In 2020 he became one of the party's first Senators and had high approval ratings for his efforts to stop Clinton's public spending.

However Amash did face opposition, Ted Cruz who became one of the many Republican senators to switch to the Libertarian Party challenged Amash on his inexperience, young age and for being too socially liberal on issues such as security. However Ted Cruz was quite unpopular due to his history of social conservatism which he had to flip-flop on to gain libertarian support.

Another opponent who gained significant support was Peter Schiff who gained notoriety for his predictions on hyperinflation under Clinton, his campaign largely focused on investing in precious metals while denouncing fiat currency.

Ted Cruz eventually dropped out early and endorsed Justin Amash, which led to the assumption that Amash would take the nomination easily, despite that Schiff's economic populism gained him strong momentum making it look like the results would be pretty close, however after Justin Amash gained the endorsement of Rand Paul he won on the first ballot with little effort. The party chose Peter Schiff as his running mate.

Labor Party

 * Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts (Nominee)


 * Bill Ayers, radical political activist


 * Cynthia McKinney, 2008 Green Party candidate and former Representative


 * Michael Moore, Documentary filmmaker and political activist

Elizabeth Warren being one of the founders of the Labor Party after leaving the Democratic Party gained significant support and gained a strong lead to become the nominee, her Second New Deal plan was praised by the party, despite that she did face some serious competition

The most controversial and unpopular candidate was Bill Ayers, a radical activist who was involved in terrorist attacks. The party was very divided on whether he should be allowed to run as candidate or whether he should be kicked out. After a vote it was decided that he was allowed to run as candidate and to let the party decide whether they wanted him as a nominee or not.

Other notable candidates such as Cynthia McKinney and Michael Moore criticized Warren for being too moderate and for never having challenged Clinton when she was a Democrat. McKinney however failed to gain strong momentum due to her low name recognition and as a result dropped out before the primaries, endorsing Michael Moore.

Elizabeth Warren would go on to win the primary with Michael Moore at a close second and Bill Ayers only winning a couple of delegates. She chose US Representative Keith Ellison as her running mate.

Independents
Bill Ayers decided to run as an independent after losing the Labor Party nomination to Elizabeth Warren.

Pirate Party
The Pirate Party gained national attention after they decided to run their first presidential candidate tech entrepreneur Sean Parker. Parker largely focusing on cyber security and privacy gained strong momentum thanks to media attention and self-funding. He chose co-founder of Quora Charlie Cheever as his running mate.

Constitution Party
After Donald Trump passed away Ivanka became the new CEO of his organization. However the economic crisis proved to be a disaster and the organization went nearly bankrupt as stocks fell down badly. This motivated Ivanka to get into politics again, this time running on a third party called the Constitution Party.

Her nomination was uncontested, with the Constitution Party seeing this as an opportunity to become a major third party like the Libertarian Party did. She chose conservative blogger Michelle Malkin as her running mate.

Results
The economic crisis created serious distrust towards the Republican and Democrat parties, especially the latter one. This allowed for the growing Libertarian Party and the newly formed Labor Party to pick up momentum. The campaign largely started with both Amash and Warren seriously criticizing the policies of Hillary Clinton, each promising to fix the crisis via different programs. Amash gained strong support among rural voters and entrepreneurs while Warren picked up strong support from urban populations.

Joni Ernst took a bold move by focusing on foreign policy primarily, while this allowed her to portray herself as a strong and capable leader it was wildly criticized for ignoring many demographics currently facing economic troubles. She mostly focused her campaign in Texas, which the Republicans found to be crucial to keep in order to have any chance, however Texas would eventually go for Justin Amash.

Andrew Cuomo tried his hardest to distance himself from Clinton's record however the strong infighting within the Democratic Party combined with the poor reputation left the party in poor shape as the Labor Party took over nearly all the Blue States.

Sean Parker's focus on privacy and civil liberties alongside his strong self-funding allowed him to get strong support specifically from Silicon Valley, he got enough votes for the Pirate Party to become a major party

Ivanka Trump failed to get strong momentum in any state, mainly due to the working class voters that voted for Donald Trump moving towards the Labor Party. However she gained strong enough support.

Later on in the race the nomination became a head to head race between the Libertarians and Labors with polls showing clear equal footing. Elizabeth Warren attempted to argue that Justin Amash's measures would harm the economy more than Clinton already has done, Justin Amash on the other hand strongly criticized Warren's Second New Deal and managed to portray her views as extreme socialism. His youth and energy gave him the upper hand in debates and his combination of civil liberties and fiscal responsibility gave him strong cross-over appeal in swing states, where as Warren's staunch focus on the New Deal only appealed to a consistent left-wing crowd.

Justin Amash would go on to win the popular vote and electoral vote, just barely winning a majority despite the amount of parties running during this election. Amash strongly benefited from swing states thanks to his appeal to both sides. Warren however managed to win strongly left-leaning states like California and Massachusets giving her the second place.

Joni Ernst managed to hold onto some deep south states while Andrew Cuomo barely managed to keep blue states, mainly rural ones with large white populations. The poor showing of both parties made many people think that the Libertarian and Labor parties will become the next 2 parties where as the Republicans and Democrats would likely end.