2028 United States presidential election (YoungLibertarian20)

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2028 United States presidential election
November 7, 2028
Turnout	59.8%
	Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states/districts won by Ossoff/Booker. Red denotes those won by Scott/Hawley.
	President before election; Donald Trump; Republican Elected President; Tim Scott; Republican

The 2028 United States presidential election was the 61st quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 2028. The Republican ticket of incumbent Vice President Tim Scott and U.S. Senator from Missouri Josh Hawley defeated the Democratic ticket of U.S. Senator from Georgia Jon Ossoff and U.S. Senator from New Jersey Cory Booker. Scott became the second African-American to be elected to the presidency, after Barack Obama in 2008. With his victory, he was the first African-American president to be a member of the Republican Party. He became the first sitting Vice President to be elected President since George H.W. Bush in 1988. Scott and Hawley took the oath of office as the 48th President and 51st Vice President of the United States on January 20, 2029.

The incumbent president, Donald Trump, was elected to two nonconsecutive terms in 2016 and 2024. He was ineligible to be elected to a third term due to term limits in the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Vice President Tim Scott secured the Republican nomination over closest competitors Adam Laxalt and Josh Mandel. Upon clinching the presidential nomination, Scott became the first African-American presidential candidate to be nominated by the Republican Party for the presidency. He is only the third African-American to be nominated by a major party, after Barack Obama in 2008 and Kamala Harris in 2024. The Democratic nomination was a closely fought race, in which Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff emerged as the presidential nominee. His closest competitor, U.S. Senator Jamaal Bowman, remained in the race until the Democratic National Convention because Ossoff failed to win an outright majority of delegates needed to win the nomination. Ossoff would later select New Jersey Senator Cory Booker as his running mate, marking the third U.S. presidential election in a row to feature an African-American vice presidential nominee of a major political party. 2028 will be the first election in which there was both a major party African-American presidential and vice presidential nominee. At the age of 41, Ossoff became the youngest major party presidential nominee since William Jennings Bryan in 1900.

The general election campaign focused primarily on domestic issues including the continued path to economic recovery, income inequality, rising student loan debt, the future of Social Security and racial tensions. Incumbent President Trump had passed multiple tax reforms as the nation recovered from the long-term economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. He remained a polarizing figure in politics while campaigning visibly with Scott. Ossoff contrastingly aligned himself with former Presidents Biden and Obama and campaigned with both visibly in the final weeks of the campaign. Headed into election day, most polls showed a tight race. Election turnout once again decreased in 2028, and was the first time that overall voter turnout was under 60 percent since 2016. It also marked the second election in a row that the Republican candidate won the nationwide popular vote as well as failed to gain a majority. It was the first time the popular vote was won by a Republican two consecutive times since the 1984 and 1988 presidential elections. Scott won three states Trump lost in 2024: Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New Mexico. This was the first election in which Minnesota was carried by a Republican since 1972, while New Hampshire also flipped to Republican for the first time since 2000. New Mexico was also won by Republicans, a state last won in 2004. Ossoff flipped Nebraska's 2nd congressional district and Georgia, his home state, to Democratic by the narrowest margin of any state nationwide in the election. With Scott's win, a Republican candidate had won two presidential elections in a row for the first time since George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. 2028's outcome was the best overall electoral performance for a Republican since George H.W. Bush's victory in 1988.

Background[]

Article Two of the United States Constitution states that for a person to serve as president, the individual must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, be at least 35 years old, and have been a United States resident for at least 14 years. Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the various political parties in the United States. Each party develops a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position. Primary elections are usually indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf. The presidential nominee typically chooses a vice presidential running mate to form that party's ticket, which is then ratified by the delegates at the party's convention (except for the Libertarian Party, which nominates its vice-presidential candidate by delegate vote regardless of the presidential nominee's preference). The general election in November is also an indirect election, in which voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the Electoral College; these electors then directly elect the president and vice president. If no candidate receives the minimum 270 electoral votes needed to win the election, the United States House of Representatives will select the president from among the three candidates who received the most electoral votes, and the United States Senate will select the vice president from among the candidates who received the two highest totals. The presidential election occurred simultaneously alongside elections for the House of Representatives, the Senate, and various state and local-level elections.

Nominations[]

Republican Party[]

Tim Scott	Josh Hawley
Republican Party ticket, 2028
for President	for Vice President

50th Vice President of the United States (2025-present)	U.S. Senator from Missouri (2019-present)

Overview[]

President Donald Trump defeated then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 for a second nonconsecutive term, and was inelgible to run for a third in 2028. Vice President Tim Scott was widely seen as the frontrunner in the primaries, while many party members suggested a competitive primary is a possibility for the first time since 2016. In total, 8 major presidential candidates announced their campaigns. Former Presidents Bush and Trump declined to endorse Scott or another candidate, but pledged to support the eventual nominee of the party. Scott was widely seen as having a firm hold on the nomination, and dominated several polls leading up to and during the primaries. In an article later released by The New York Times, many in the party notably including candidates Candace Owens and Marco Rubio.

Ultimately, Scott would win the nomination in a competitive primary against closest competitors Adam Laxalt and Josh Mandel. Many of his challengers would later align behind Scott's candidacy or endorse him outright. Upon Scott's clinching of the Republican nomination, he became the first African-American presidential nominee to be nominated by the Republican Party. Presidents Donald Trump and George W. Bush would endorse Scott, as well as Former Vice President Mike Pence. Trump called Scott's nomination "historic and very well-deserved" and affirmed the party's full support behind his presumptive nomination.

Withdrawn candidates[]

Kevin Cramer, United States Senator from North Dakota (2019-present); United States Representative from ND-AL (2013–2019)
Josh Hawley, United States Senator from Missouri (2019–present)
Adam Laxalt, United States Senator from Nevada (2023–present); 33rd Attorney General of Nevada (2015-2019)
Josh Mandel, United States Senator from Ohio (2023–present); 48th Treasurer of Ohio (2011-2019); Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 17th district (2007-2011)
Kristi Noem, 33rd Governor of South Dakota (2019–2027); United States Representative from SD-AL (2011–2019)
Candace Owens, author and talk show host from Connecticut
Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State (2025-2027); United States Senator from Florida (2011-2025); 94th Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives (2006–2008); Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 111th district (2000–2008); Member of the West Miami City Commission (1998–2000)

Vice presidential selection[]

Scott had begun discussing potential picks as his running mate shortly after President Trump's public endorsement of his candidacy. He stated that the pick would be "day one ready" to face the potential challenges of a presidency in their own right. Scott's ultimately vice presidential shortlist narrowed to three individuals: Josh Hawley, Kristi Noem, and Rand Paul. Scott later selected Hawley as his vice presidential running mate. New York Times had reported after the decision that incumbent President Trump heavily impacted Scott's decision, and strongly endorsed Hawley's vice presidential candidacy.

Josh Hawley, United States Senator from Missouri (2019-present); Attorney General of Missouri (2017-2019)
Kristi Noem, 33rd Governor of South Dakota (2019–2027); United States Representative from SD-AL (2011–2019); candidate for President in 2028
Rand Paul, United States Senator from Kentucky (2011-present)