The 2016 presidential campaign of Selina Meyer, the Vice President under President Stuart Hughes, was announced in a speech delivered in Maryland on October 18, 2015. Selina Meyer was a United States Senator from Maryland until 2013 and served as Vice President of the United States from 2013 to 2016. A runner-up in the 2012 Democratic Party primaries, her candidacy in the 2016 election was her second bid for the presidency.
Meyer's two main opponents for the Democratic nomination contest were Minnesota Governor Danny Chung and Ex-Baseball Manager Joe Thornhill.
In January 2016, before the New Hampshire primary, Meyer ascended to the presidency as Hughes resigned. The election on November 8, 2016, ended in an historic tie and Meyer lost, with the Presidency going to New Mexico Senator Laura Montez.
Background
2012 Presidential Run
Meyer announced her decision to run for the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election. Early in the race, she was considered to be a rising star within the Democratic Party and did exceedingly well in New Hampshire. However, near Super Tuesday, she started to fall and ended up coming in third. She was offered the role of Vice President to the party nominee Stuart Hughes, an offer she accepted. Hughes and Meyer won the Election and Meyer thus became Vice President.
Vice Presidency
Meyer became Vice President in January 2013. In late 2013, she had a 66% unfavorable rating. In January 2015, news broke that in the Uzbek Hostage Crisis, one of the hostages was a spy. Hughes knew of this and Meyer did not. However, in June 2015, Meyer took credit for the hostage situation and says she knew of it, apologizing for misleading the people, even though she really did not have any knowledge of it. This actually benefited Meyer, with one source referring to her as the "No BS VP".
With her popularity suddenly rising, Meyer started considering a possible presidential run in 2020. However, impeachment talks grow against President Hughes, and Meyer, exhausted from feeling minimized in the administration, considered not running with Hughes in 2016 for re-election. However, with Hughes popularity falling fast amidst the Hostage Crisis, Hughes announced he would not run for re-election in September 2015. On October 18, 2015, Meyer officially announced her candidacy.
Caucuses and Primaries
Main article: Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016
For years, Meyer feared that Minnesota Governor Danny Chung would be a fierce rival, should she ever run for President. Chung announced his candidacy in the fall of 2015, as did former Secretary of Defense George Maddox, ex-baseball manager Joe Thornhill, and Nevada Congressman Owen Pierce. Dan Egan was able to spread a rumor that Chung tortured enemies while fighting in Iraq. The rumor later backfired and was proven as false, and traced back to him.
Meyer and the Democratic Candidates before the first debate, December 2015.
Meyer made campaign stops in Palo Alto, to fundraise and visit the campus of Clovis; Detroit, for an economic summit; and London, in remembrance of 100 years after World War I. At the first primary debate in December 2015, Meyer stuck by her record and the three R's (reform, reaffirm, renew; the latter of which Meyer forgets and replaces with repel). Meyer came in second in the debate, behind Thornhill, but ahead of Chung, Pierce, and Maddox.
In January, Meyer lost the Iowa caucus to Thornhill and looked ahead to New Hampshire, a state she did well in during her initial Presidential run, as a possible victory. However, a tape surfaces of her calling her donors "idiots". She fears that this is the end of her campaign, only to be informed that Hughes has resigned to take care of the ill first lady. Meyer was sworn in as President the following day. Meyer lost the New Hampshire primary, coming in third, behind Chung and Thornhill.
The primary race narrowed to just Meyer, Thornhill, and Chung, and eventually to just Meyer and Chung. Around Easter, the Meyer administration was plagued with a scandal, claiming that they hacked the medical records of a little girl with HIV. However, Meyer was able to poll higher, heading to the middle east for a ten-day world tour, visiting countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and Iran.
Not much of the rest of the primaries are known, but apparently Meyer wins and becomes the party nominee in July at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, selecting Maine Senator Tom James as her running mate.
Presidential Campaign
Within a week after the Convention, Meyer and James were off on the campaign trail, going against Arizona Senator and Republican nominee Bill O'Brien and his running mate New Mexico Senator Laura Montez. Meyer's first campaign visits were to Pennsylvania, Maine, and Connecticut. She later went to North Carolina, under the assumption that there would be a hurricane that would hit there, only for it to veer south and hit Florida, where O'Brien happened to be campaigning.
Meyer with running mate Tom James at a campaign event in Pennsylvania.
Meyer apparently did well during the first Presidential debate, and was considered to have won it. The Families First Bill Meyer had been pushing, however, grew increasingly unpopular. Meyer hired lobbyists to convince Congresspeople within the party to vote against the bill so they have a chance of winning the Election. This leads to a Congressional hearing with Communications Director Bill Ericsson is scapegoated.
Election and Aftermath
On Election Night, at first, O'Brien had a large lead over Meyer. The first projections of the night gave O'Brien an electoral vote lead of 33-10. By 10:00 PM ET, CNN has O'Brien up 177-61, after winning Wisconsin and Minnesota, which were thought to go to Meyer. After projecting Pennsylvania, putting O'Brien at 267-207, Meyer almost calls O'Brien to concede, but around 12:06 AM ET, CNN says Pennsylvania was the incorrect call and is given to Meyer, who later wins Florida and Colorado. After winning Virginia, CNN officially reports that the Election is tie.
Economic Turmoil
On November 9, as Meyer addressed the nation, the economy began plummeting, with the DOW Jones experiencing worst day since the Housing Crisis in 2008. Experts connected this to uncertainty after the Election. On November 10, Meyer appointed running mate Tom James as Economy Czar, and established a banking task force, including EM Wheelwright CEO and future boyfriend Charlie Baird. The economy continued to worsen throughout the month and that December, Meyer decided not to bail out EM Wheelwright and bailed out a different bank. After that, the economy began recovering.
Nevada Recount
The day after the Election, CNN reports that the margin of victory in which O'Brien won Nevada was less than one percent, which constitutes a recount. If Meyer wins the recount, she wins the presidency. A recount was green-lit on November 11. The Meyer team learns that there are missing ballots in Nevada and asks to extend the deadline. However, to their dismay, they learn that the missing ballots were military absentee ballots. On November 20, O'Brien officially won Nevada, but in doing so, Meyer lost the popular vote nationally.
House & Senate Vote
On January 3, 2017, the U.S. House voted on President between Meyer and O'Brien. 3 Congressman abstained and neither Meyer nor O'Brien received 26 votes, the majority to be declared the President. The final result was O'Brien 25, Meyer 22, and 3 abstentions. On January 5, 2017, the Senate voted on President between Tom James and Laura Montez. The end result was a 50-50 tie, which was broken by the sitting Vice President Andrew Doyle, who surprisingly voted for Laura Montez, after being offered Secretary of State. Laura Montez became President of the United States, and House Speaker Jim Marwood refused to let the House vote again, meaning Meyer had no chance of becoming President.