Democratic Presidential Primary of 2080 (Durant Scenario)

Presidential primaries and caucuses were organized by the Democratic Party to select the 4,750 delegates to the 2080 Democratic National Convention held July 8–15 and determine the nominee for president in the 2080 United States presidential election. The elections took place within all fifty-two U.S. states, four U.S. territories, and Democrats Abroad and occurred between February 1 and June 14, 2080.

A total of seven major candidates entered the race starting April 12, 2078, when former President Madison Sykes of Missouri formally announced her second bid for the presidency. She was followed by Louisiana Governor Martin Delacroix, former Governor of New York Melissa Harrison, Governor of Rhode Island Harriet Reynolds, Texas Senator Alistair Durant, Mayor of Los Angeles Gerald Hamilton, and former Vice President Martin Davies. A draft movement was started to encourage Senator Durant's wife, Adriana, to seek the presidency, but she declined to run. Reynolds and Hamilton withdrew prior to the Nevada primary.

February 2080: Early Primaries
Despite being heavily favored in polls issued weeks earlier, Sykes lost momentum after Durant barnstormed all of Nevada, focusing heavily on rural parts of the state before heading into Reno and Las Vegas. Her momentum was further diminished at the first Democratic Debate, where all the candidates largely went on the attack to take Sykes down. Durant took 12 of the delegates, beating out the expected 19 that Sykes was supposed to receive. Sykes took 11, followed by Delacroix's 7, Harrison's 5, and Davies's 1. The former Vice President quickly dropped from the race and endorsed Senator Durant before starting to campaign across the South on the Senator's behalf.

The next primary took place in New York, Harrison's home state. Harrison largely campaigned on her statewide record and pointed to her high approval ratings while governor. The second Democratic Debate took place in New York two days before the primary. Again, Sykes was slightly ahead in the polls, followed by Harrison. Harrison and Durant went on the attack against Sykes while Delacroix focused on his plans. Sykes was poorly organized and unable to fend off attacks. Durant took a second victory, winning New York with 99 delegates. Harrison followed with 98, Delacroix with 64, and Sykes with 13. Many news pundits declared the Sykes's campaign over, but still the former president persisted.

The third Democratic Debate took place in Virginia, as the next primaries were in Virginia and North Carolina. Sykes was much more organized and held her own, landing a few decisive strikes against Harrison. Durant and Harrison kept their alliance together, though, keeping Sykes in line. Delacroix attacked all three candidates, and all three attacked him in turn. In Virginia, Sykes took 49 delegates, followed by Harrison with 28, Durant with 21, and Delacroix with 3. North Carolina's primary took place the same day, with Durant coming out as the clear victor with 89 of the delegates. Sykes, Delacroix, and Harrison took 7 delegates apiece. At this point in the campaign, Durant held a strong lead with 219 delegates, followed by Harrison with 138. Delacroix followed with 81, almost tied with Sykes at 80. Sykes dropped from the race and endorsed Delacroix; Durant and Harrison meet and announce that the latter will be dropping from the race and endorsing Durant. Durant adds that Harrison will be his vice presidential choice if he is nominated.

The next debate took place in Colorado, shortly before the First Super Tuesday. Durant was considered the victor given his experience in successfully developing progressive policies. He worked to paint Delacroix as "too conservative" while the governor portrayed Durant as "too progressive," though Durant was considered a pragmatist nationally. Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas all held their primaries on the same day. Durant gained 134 delegates to the governor's 142, placing them at 353 and 223 respectively.

March 2080: The Battle Continues
The fifth Democratic debate took place in California in preparation for the Second Super Tuesday, which consisted of Hawaii, Alaska, California, Oregon, and Washington. The debate was considered a draw due to the emphasis on foreign affairs and climate change, which the duo were widely in agreement on. However, Durant led the polls and took a whopping 453 delegates, totaling 786 to Delacroix's 387.

The third Super Tuesday took place across the south the following week. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kentucky all held their primaries that day. Durant took every delegate in Texas and Tennessee, and nearly won every other state. Durant passed the 1,000 delegate mark with 1,425 delegates-- 950 away from securing the nomination. Delacroix held 750, 1,625 from the nomination.

The sixth debate took place just before the fourth Super Tuesday. Based in Chicago, Durant truly took a lead after this debate, establishing himself as a unifying party figure that could undo the corruption, instability, and dangerous policies of the past several administrations, reaching all the way back to the first Trump Administration (2021-2025). Delacroix was unable to defend himself and proved to be inefficient at answering questions posed by Durant, moderators, and undecided voters.

The fourth Super Tuesday took place in all remaining states: Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, the Douglas Commonwealth, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Puerto Rico, and the four territories. Durant won every race and ended up with 2,715 delegates in all-- more than enough to clinch the nomination. Delacroix withdrew from the race and pledged his support to Durant, and the establishment promised that the super delegates would support Durant's nomination despite his age. Most did, with a total of 3,193 delegates supporting Durant at the Democratic National Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

The First Debate
The first debate took place on February 2, 2080 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Senator Durant, former President Sykes, Governor Harrison, former Governor Delacroix, and former Vice President Davies all took to the stage. There were three main topics of discussion: Green New Deal Expansionism versus the MEAD Act, national unity, and the decline of Sykesism. Despite being passed years earlier, the MEAD Act was brought to the forefront of discussion largely because of a sparring town hall that Durant and Delacroix had participated in a few days before the debate. The duo had debated MEAD's merits and discussed at length whether MEAD expansionism was needed to help expand the economy in a sensible way. Delacroix preferred an expansion of solely the Green New Deal, whereas Durant advocated a balanced expansion of MEAD (as it had been his brainchild) and the Green New Deal. This debate lasted through most of the campaign.

The first topic covered was the Green New Deal, which some moderates and centrists were suggesting expanding on instead of creating or expanding other programs. President Sykes, a liberal populist, advocated expanding the Green New Deal to cover every aspect of American life while increasing taxes on the "top five percent beyond the current seventy percent rate." Davies, who had been Sykes's vice president, called it "irresponsible" and advocated small increases with cuts to military spending to supply for Green New Deal expansion. Harrison was more in line with Durant's view that the MEAD Act and the Green New Deal should both be expanded upon, while Delacroix called all of their plans "fiscally irresponsible," pointing out that his state had budget surpluses every year because of cuts to certain parts of the budget. Delacroix pulled ahead among voters that considered themselves fiscally responsible.

The next topic covered was national unity, and it merged with the final topic, the decline of Sykesism. Since 2016, the nation had remained extremely divided, with 63% to 84% saying that the nation was beyond returning to bipartisanship and stability. Durant, Davies, and Harrison all blamed Sykes for the large spike in disunity that the nation had seen during Sykes's term, and they proclaimed that they had proudly voted for the Johnston-Davies unity ticket in both 1976. Delacroix went on the attack, accusing all three of being anti-Democratic and party obstructionists. Sykes blamed the Republicans and establishment for the disunity, saying that "the swamp wasn't drained all the way, and without a drained swamp, nothing gets done." Delacroix agreed, but toned back Sykes's rhetoric.

When Sykes was defeated in 2072 and 2076, Sykesism began to decline, though she maintained some limited popularity. Her defeat led to the fall of the populist wing of the party, with many traditional leaders (or young new progressives) replacing Sykes's biggest supporters. Harrison was one of these leaders, becoming governor of New York in 2074. Harrison (with help from Durant and Davies) sparred with Sykes over the future of the party. Davies repeatedly claimed that his bipartisan support from Democrats and Republicans positioned him as the unity candidate, and he pledged to select a Republican vice president.

Polls indicated that Durant had come out the victor of the first debate and that Sykes had been totally destroyed overnight. Harrison's popularity improved, and Delacroix's did as well. Davies lost support, much of which went to Harrison. Delacroix was seen as the heir apparent to Sykes's wing of the party.

The June Convention
Senator Alistair Durant of Texas was nominated by acclamation on the first ballot for the presidency. Shortly thereafter, former Governor Melissa Harrison of New York was nominated by acclamation on the first ballot for the vice presidency. As had become tradition for the party, the convention nominated their candidate for Secretary of State and selected former Vice President Martin Davies of Virginia.