2020 US Presidential Election (Part of me Died)

Republican Primary
After the surprise victory of Donald Trump in 2016, many Republicans who were calmed by some of his promises became upset when he failed to go through with any of them. Ben Sasse, who refused to endorse Trump in 2016, was the first to announce his campaign on February 21st, 2018. Carly Fiorina, who ran against Trump in 2016, became the second candidate to announce her campaign on March 8th, 2018. Joe Scarborough announced that he would rejoin the GOP to run against Trump on March 11th, 2018. Evan McMullin, an Independent candidate for President in 2016, announced on April 3rd, 2018; and Ted Cruz, who also ran against Trump in 2016, announced on June 18th, 2018. With an unusually large number of high-profile primary candidates, President Trump announced that he would run an Independent campaign for President if he didn't win the Republican nomination. Within the next week, Ted Cruz and Ben Sasse announced in a joint event that they would both drop out to "avoid another 1912", referencing the historical belief that Teddy Roosevelt's third party Presidential campaign spoiled the election. Scarborough, McMullin, and Fiorina would all continue their primary campaigns, however. On April 3rd, Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party.

At the convention, every candidate spoke, but none of the candidates endorsed Trump. McMullin particularly antagonized the pro-Trump crowd when he called for an Independent challenge to Trump, saying "Any of you would be amazing candidates to run against Trump as an Independent."

Democratic Primary
In the aftermath of Hillary Clinton's loss, the Democratic Party was directionless, and this caused a large number of significant candidates to run for the nomination. Eric Holder became the first to announce on May 5th, 2018, followed by Deval Patrick on May 17th, Tulsi Gabbard and Jerry Brown on April 2nd, Martin O'Malley on April 4th, Joe Biden on April 9th, John Hickenlooper on April 19th, and Terry McAuliffe on April 21st. The primary was highly competitive, and in the end, no candidate won a majority of delegates. There was a large amount of anger and discontention until John Kerry spoke. His call for total unity around an experienced, well spoken candidate led many delegates to believe that Kerry wanted the nomination. After three votes, John Kerry won the nomination and selected Terry McAuliffe as his running mate. John Hickenlooper and Tulsi Gabbard both declined to endorse Kerry. Hickenlooper called for an Independent campaign, citing McMullin's call, and Gabbard famously called Kerry "[J]ust another war-loving Republican".

Libertarian Primary
In the aftermath of the best Libertarian Party performance in the history of the party, the Party was beginning to split into three factions: Centrists, Classical Liberals, and Radicals. Radical Libertarian Adam Kokesh announced his campaign in 2014, and Centrist Libertarian Bill Weld announced his campaign on May 5th, 2018. Weld was generally considered the frontrunner, but only due to the lack of another reasonable option. This angered Classical Liberals, who started a Draft Justin Amash campaign. The campaign picked up huge support, and Justin Amash announced his campaign on January 12th, 2019. Despite Bill Weld's backing and massive sums of money, the party nominated Amash because he was neither too moderate nor too radical. The party also nominated Ben Sasse as Amash's running mate.

Independent Candidacy
After the conventions in August, there was a lot of anger towards the major party nominees, between criticisms of Kerry's foreign policy beliefs and hardline social conservative views and the way Trump had governed. In late August, several prominent Republicans, Democrats, and others united to form an Independent ticket that could win. Notable figures involved in the discussion included Democrats John Hickenlooper, Tulsi Gabbard, and Joe Lieberman; Republicans Evan McMullin, John Kasich, and Larry Hogan; Independents Angus King, Bill Walker, and Greg Orman; and Libertarian Bill Weld. Eventually, John Kasich was selected as the favorite for the Independent candidacy, and Kasich decided to select Angus King as his running mate, but noted that everyone involved would have a place in his cabinet if elected. John Kasich announced his candidacy on September 12th, 2020, and qualified on the ballot in every state except for Georgia, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. Ted Cruz reportedly considered an Independent campaign as well, but ultimately endorsed Justin Amash.

CPD Lawsuit and General Election Debates
After several unsuccessful attempts to sue the Commission on Presidential Debates, the Libertarian Party settled with the commission: They would stop filing lawsuits, and in return, the CPD would lower the requirement to debate to 5% in 10 national polls. This allowed four candidates to be featured in two of the three Presidential and one Vice Presidential debate.

First Debate
The first debate between Trump, Kerry, Kasich, and Amash focused on foreign policy. Highlights of the debate were when Trump hit Kerry on foreign policy, saying "This guy is so far to the right of me, he's an extremist folks"; when Kasich said, "It's like I'm in an echo chamber on trade"; and when Amash said, "Clinton was a disaster, Bush was a disaster, Obama was a disaster, Trump is a disaster. Look at these guys. Do you really think John Kerry is going to be any different? He said Bush wasn't doing enough in the Middle East! And Kasich endorsed Kerry in 2004!"

Many pollsters asked who won and who lost the debate. The general consensus was that the debate was a draw between Amash and Kasich, but that Kerry lost the debate handily.

Second Debate and Vice Presidential Debate
The second debate between the four was a town hall style debate, and it was all about the candidates' scandals. Trump was asked about the tape about his lewd comments made in 2016, his firing of special counsel Robert Muller, and the mass amounts of shuffling in the cabinet that was revealed to be a cover-up for the Russiagate Scandal, where it was proven that the Trump Administration had been in direct contact with the Kremlin. Kerry was asked about his degrading comments on military service members in 2006, his racist remarks regarding Barack Obama in 2007, and his endorsements of Republicans in 2014, 2016, and 2018. Kasich was asked about a tape that showed him yelling at several citizens who came to speak with him, problems with charter schools as Governor, and a financial scandal, which had just broken. Amash was asked about his extreme positions on drug legalization, war, and hardline constitutionalism. In his closing statement, Amash said "This debate was about scandals -- but I was asked about policy. Why do you think that is?" This led to a bump in polling for Amash and a general consensus that he had won the debate, but eventually backfired when Trump alleged that Amash had worked closely with the CPD to hurt everyone else and help him. Amash dropped in the polls, and as a result, was barred from the third debate.

Because qualifying for the second debate was the only precursor to qualify for the Vice Presidential debate, all four Vice Presidential candidates (Mike Pence, Terry McAuliffe, Angus King, and Ben Sasse) still debated. The debate was generally not watched by the public, and those who watched mostly said that nobody won. Angus King, however, came in first amongst the candidates. Sasse had no reaction to the allegation that the CPD worked with the Amash campaign, so most people thought he lost the debate

Third Debate
After Justin Amash dropped in the polls, his average dropped to 4.8% in the 10 national polls. This meant he would not be allowed to debate. In the third debate, Trump opened by calling the CPD a 'huge scam', and said he was only debating to expose that. Trump refused to actually answer the questions, and instead attacked Kasich and Kerry. Because of this, the general consensus was that Trump lost. People still agreed that some of Trump's attacks were valid, and Kasich only won the debate by a plurality as a result.

General Election Polls
Final Average:

Within 1%:

 * Virginia - 0.032%
 * Maine CD-1 - 0.13%
 * Pennsylvania - 0.86%
 * Minnesota - 0.92%

Within 5%:

 * Florida - 1.67%
 * Arizona - 1.84%
 * Maine - 2.34%
 * Michigan - 2.87%
 * Texas - 3.07%
 * Colorado - 3.21%
 * Maine CD-2 - 3.45%
 * New Hampshire - 3.56%
 * Wisconsin - 4.01%
 * Nevada - 4.21%
 * Delaware - 4.98%

Within 10%:

 * New Mexico - 7.23%
 * North Carolina - 8.65%
 * Iowa - 9.87%