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| Primaries (Debates, Convention) • Party nominee • Opposition nominee • Chinese interference • General election | ||
| ← 2016 • 2020 • 2024 → |
The 2020 United States presidential primaries and caucuses were a series of electoral contests taking place in all 50 states organized by the party to select the required amount of delegates to the 2020 National Convention and determine the party nominee for president of the United States in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
A total of four major candidates declared their candidacies in the spring of 2019: former President Selina Meyer, New York Senator Kemi Talbot, former Connecticut Senator and 2016 vice presidential nominee Tom James, and Nevada Governor Buddy Calhoun. Despite Meyer initially leading in the polls, Talbot received a large amount of support after announcing her candidacy. Talbot would go on to win the Iowa caucus, with Meyer coming in second. Meyer would go on to win the New Hampshire primary and the South Carolina primary. New Hampshire Congressman Jonah Ryan received criticism for the rhetoric of his anti-immigration campaign.
No candidate received a majority of delegates in the primaries, leading to a brokered convention. In July 2020, the National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, officially nominated Meyer for president and Jonah Ryan for vice president. The Meyer-Ryan ticket would be successful against incumbent President Laura Montez in the general election.
Candidates[]
Nominee[]
- Selina Meyer, 45th president of the United States 2016–2017; vice president of the United States 2013–2016; U.S. Senator from Maryland 2003–2013; candidate for president in 2008, 2012 and party nominee for president in 2016; (campaign)
Withdrew at the convention[]
- Kemi Talbot, U.S. Senator from New York since 2013; (campaign)
- Buddy Calhoun, Governor of Nevada since 2018, Secretary of State of Nevada until 2018; (campaign)
- Jonah Ryan, U.S. Representative from New Hampshire 2017–2019; (campaign)
Withdrew during the primaries[]
- Tom James, U.S. Senator from Connecticut 2001–2013; Party nominee for vice president in 2016; withdrew February 20, 2020; (campaign)
- John DeVito, Governor of Ohio from 2007–2015
Minor candidates[]
- Clarence Clark, U.S. Representative
- Lord Wolfsbane, board game store owner
Overview[]
| Candidates | Most recent position | Campaign | Contests won | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
45th President of the United States (2016–2017) |
(Campaign) Secured Nomination: July 26, 2020 |
??? | ||
| U.S. Senator from New York
(2013 - 2025) |
(Campaign)
Lost Nomination: July 26, 2020 |
??? | ||
|
U.S. Representative from New Hampshire's 2nd District (2017–2019) |
(Campaign) Withdrew: July 26, 2020 |
??? | ||
| - | Governor of Nevada
(2018 - 2021) |
(Campaign)
Withdrew: July 26, 2020 |
??? | |
|
Governor of Ohio (2007–2015) |
Withdrew: April 15, 2020 | None | ||
|
U.S. Senator from Connecticut (2001–2013) |
(Campaign) Withdrew: February 20, 2020 |
None | ||
Timeline[]
Background[]
Speculation on whether or not former President Selina Meyer would run in the 2020 presidential election began to emerge on January 3, 2018, during her interview on CBS This Morning, where she said she had no plans to run. However, she secretly was planning a run for president, but after a discussion with her longtime associate Ben Cafferty, ultimately decided against it.
In October 2018, a media leak resulted in Meyer receiving credit for the 2016/17 negotiations that led to the independence of Tibet. Meyer cancelled any plans to open a presidential library and decided to devote all her effort to a run in the 2020 election.
In November 2018, the 2018 midterm elections were held, resulting in the opposition party maintaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
In January 2019, former congressman Jonah Ryan became the first candidate to announce he was running. In the following months, Nevada governor Buddy Calhoun and former Senator Tom James would announce they would be seeking the party nomination in 2020. In March 2019, Meyer officially announced her candidacy outside the birthplace of Susan B. Anthony in Massachusetts. New York Senator Kemi Talbot would announce her candidacy in April/May 2019.
According to Kent, polls had former President Selina Meyer ahead by double-digits, before she even announced. In Discovery Weekend, it was revealed that, even after announcing, Selina had a double-digit lead over Tom James.
In Iowa, it was revealed that Jonah Ryan was polling poorly in Iowa and decided to devote his time to campaigning in his home state of New Hampshire. After the revelation that Ryan married his stepsister, polls had Ryan up among white males. However, by the time the debates came around, Jonah was polling in seventh place, below five percent.
The first primary debate was held on May 18, 2019; polls afterwards had Meyer winning. The following day, Meyer deputy campaign manager Amy Brookheimer announced she would be joining the Jonah Ryan campaign.
Early primaries[]
See also: 2020 Iowa caucuses, 2020 New Hampshire primary, and 2020 South Carolina primary
Selina Meyer campaigns at a church in Charleston; February 21, 2020.
The first primary held was the Iowa caucus. Although it's not explicitly stated, it's implied that Talbot won. Meyer came in second place in Iowa. The following primary was New Hampshire, held on February 18, 2020, which Meyer won with 43% percent of the vote. Meyer previously won the state in the 2012 primaries but came in third place in New Hampshire in the 2016 primaries.
While campaigning for the South Carolina primary, Tom James withdrew his candidacy, but refused to endorse any candidate. On the day of the primary, several mysterious occurrences prevented largely African-American counties from going to the polls. It is alleged that this resulted in Meyer winning South Carolina, over Kemi Talbot, who was expected to have an advantage with African-Americans. Jonah Ryan, after the resignation of Bill Ericsson and Teddy Sykes, drew controversy by blaming Muslims for creating math, despite drawing some support and coming in third in South Carolina.
Super Tuesday[]
Super Tuesday was held on March 3, 2020, wherein the states of Florida, Oklahoma, Alabama, Vermont, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Virginia, and Texas held primaries. While the Meyer campaign spent the run-up to Super Tuesday campaigning in various states, the Jonah Ryan campaign focused mainly on the state of Florida, where they saw a possible path to victory. According to Kent, Meyer was leading in Texas by three points, North Carolina by eight points, and two in Massachusetts.
Super Tuesday 2020 states
To coincide with Super Tuesday, the State of New York announced their investigation into The Meyer Fund has ended following the death of Meyer's ex-husband Andrew Meyer. However, the investigation was suspended on March 1 after the death of Andrew Meyer.
Subsequent primaries[]
On April 15, 2020, Meyer accepted the Peace Summit Award in Oslo, Norway. During her trip, she sought asylum at the Norwegian embassy after being reported for war crimes during her tenure in office. During this time, Americans rallied to have Selina sent home. However, after it was revealed that the drone strike Meyer authorized also killed an elephant, the voters turned on Meyer.
Meanwhile, Jonah Ryan, while campaigning in Pennsylvania, caught chickenpox, which inadvertently led to the death of his father, Lloyd Hennick.
The subsequent 2020 primaries were victim to cyberattacks from the Chinese, who acted to give an advantage to Meyer. Their efforts were unsuccessful as Meyer left the primaries without a majority of the delegates needed to clinch the nomination.
Convention[]
See also: 2020 National Convention
The 2020 National Convention was held from July 23 - 26, 2020, at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Roger Furlong acted as chair of the convention. As no candidate achieved a majority of delegates in the primaries, the convention was noted by the press as being chaotic, with Meyer having a slight lead over Talbot in the delegate count.
Meyer accepts the party nomination; July 26, 2020.
On the third day of the convention, Jonah Ryan, who was in a distant third in the primary count, began gaining traction as a failed bombing attempt at the JFK airport in New York was revealed to be orchestrated by a muslim algebra teacher, feeding into his campaign rhetoric. While Meyer first considered former Ohio Governor John DeVito for the role as her running mate, she offered the role to Ryan as a last-ditch effort to win the party nomination.
On July 26, 2020, the final day of the convention, Selina Meyer and Jonah Ryan were named the party nominees by acclamation.
Schedule and results[]
| Date | Contest | Delegates won and vote | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selina Meyer | Kemi Talbot | Jonah Ryan | Buddy Calhoun | Tom James | John DeVito | ||
| February | Iowa | 2nd place | 1st place | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| February 18 | New Hampshire | 1st place 43.2% |
2nd place 26.3% |
6th place 3% |
5th place 4% |
3rd place 14.6% |
4th place 8.9% |
| February 23 | South Carolina | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | ??? | ??? | |
| March 3 (Super Tuesday) | |||||||
| Alabama | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | |||
| Florida | ??? | ??? | 1st place | ??? | |||
| Massachusetts | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | |||
| North Carolina | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | |||
| Oklahoma | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | |||
| Texas | 1st place | ??? | ??? | ??? | |||
| Vermont | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | |||
| Virginia | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | |||
| Total 4,735 pledged delegates |
1,817 | 1,785 | 453 | 420 | 0 | 0 | |
Opposition primaries[]
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Primaries were also held for the opposition party, which were a series of electoral contests taking place in all 50 states organized by the opposition party to determine the opposition's nominee in the general election.
It is tradition that any other candidates within a party stand down in deference to the incumbent president running for re-election. Laura Montez won the party's nomination seemingly unopposed.