2028 Presidential Election (Wither)

The 2028 United States Presidential Election was the 61st quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2028. The Democratic nominee was Kamala Harris, the incumbent President following the 46th president, Joe Biden's resignation. Harris picked her running mate as Pete Buttigieg, incumbent Vice President and former Secretary of Transportation. Nikki Haley, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, ran with Dan Crenshaw, a US Representative from Texas.

Democratic Primaries
Like 2024, almost no Democrats ran. The only major campaign was that of Kamala Harris, the incumbent President.

Candidates


 * Kamala Harris, President of the United States (2027-2033), Vice President of the United States (2021-2027), U.S. Senator from California (2017-2019) (Nominee)

Republican Primaries
Nikki Haley, the eventual nominee, had been second in the 2024 Republican primaries and polls until Trump announced his campaign, behind Ted Cruz and above Mike Pence. However, when Cruz declined to run in 2028, Haley became the front runner. Mike Pence also did not run again.

Other major and semi-major campaigns were those of Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State, Greg Abbott, former Governor of Texas, Charlie Baker, former Governor of Massachusetts, businessman, and son of former President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Senator from Nebraska Ben Sasse, and Kanye West, Governor of Wyoming. Many campaigns were not successful, but Abbott's strong campaign was almost able to get the nomination.

Candidates


 * Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2017-2018), Governor of South Carolina (2011-2017) (Nominee)
 * Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas (2015-2023)
 * Mike Pompeo, United States Secretary of State (2018-2021), Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2017-2018)
 * Charlie Baker, Governor of Massachusetts (2015-2023)
 * Kanye West, Governor of Wyoming (2027-2035)
 * Donald Trump Jr., businessman, eldest son of former President Donald Trump
 * Ben Sasse, U.S. Senator from Nebraska (2015-2033)

Results
The popularity of both Harris and Haley created the closest election since 2000. Haley managed to flip Georgia red, which was traditionally a Republican-voting state until the 2020 and 2024 elections. She also managed to take back North Carolina, which the two states combined came with Harris losing 32 electoral votes. However Harris managed to keep Arizona blue, which it had done in 2024 and 2020. Like North Carolina and Georgia, Arizona was traditionally a Republican-voting state. Had Haley won Arizona and a state with 4 electoral votes or more, she would have won the election.

Haley conceded the election results at 5 PM EST on November 5, following Harris's win. Harris gave her acceptance speech hours later, at 8 PM. Harris won her second term and was inaugurated January 20, 2029.

In a similar fashion to Mitt Romney in 2012, Haley expressed that she was disappointed she did not win the election, feeling that it was "certainly winnable". She took a break from all politics, but began to gain back popularity after being appointed Secretary of State in the Cabinet of Larry Hogan and eventually appointed Vice President by Marco Rubio following the 2040 election and Ted Cruz's subsequent assassination. Haley ran again in 2048 and won the presidency.