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Meyer-James 2016
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Campaign 2016 U.S. presidential election

2016 U.S. primary elections

Candidate Selina Meyer
45th President of the United States
(2016–17)

Tom James
U.S. Senator from Connecticut
(2001–13)

Status Announced: October 18, 2015
Official nominee: July 2016
Lost election: January 3, 2017
Key people Dan Egan (manager)
Amy Brookheimer (manager)
Kent Davison (manager)
Bill Ericsson (comm. director)
Slogan Continuity with Change
Meyersecondterm
This article is part of a series about
Selina Meyer
Political positionsElectoral historyFamily
Vice President of the United States
Vice presidency
Clean Jobs BillGet Moving!Uzbek hostage crisis2015 U.S. government shutdown
President of the United States
Presidencies (Timeline)
1st inauguration2nd inauguration
Joint session address • Medileaks scandalFamilies First Bill • 2016 U.S. banking crisisDeath of Hamza Al BashirIndependence of Tibet
Presidential campaigns
20082012 (Primaries) • 2012 VP campaign (Selection, Convention, Election)
2016 (Primaries, Convention, Election, Nevada recount)
2020 (Primaries, Convention, Election, Chinese election interference)
Some New Beginnings • A Woman First
Trips takenResidencesControversiesMeyer FundSelina Meyer Presidential Library • Death and state funeral
Signature
Seal Of The President Of The United States Of America

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 presidential primaries, her candidacy in the 2016 election was her third 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 campaign[]

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 party and did exceedingly well in New Hampshire. However, she suspended her campaign on Super Tuesday. 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".

Caucuses and primaries[]

Main article: 2016 United States presidential primaries

Stuart Hughes' rising unpopularity following the Uzbek Hostage Crisis made him a controversial figure even within his own party. In April 2015, Danny Chung was the first to announce that he was starting an exploratory committee to see if there would be a chance to run for President, indicating his interest in challenging Hughes for the nomination in 2016. Hughes announced in June 2015 that he would not be seeking re-election.

On October 18, 2015, Vice President Selina Meyer announced her candidacy. In November 2015, Joe Thornhill, an ex-baseball manager with no political experience, announced his candidacy. George Maddox announced his resignation as Secretary of Defense and announced his candidacy in November 2015. At the first primary debate, Thornhill came in first place, followed by Meyer, Chung, Owen Pierce, and Maddox.

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Primary candidates at the first debate, December 2015.

In January 2016, Joe Thornhill won the Iowa Caucus. Shortly before the New Hampshire primary, Hughes announced he was going to resign, and Vice President Selina Meyer was sworn in as President on January 24, 2016. Despite the amount of time Meyer put in New Hampshire, Danny Chung won the New Hampshire primary. Meyer placed third in the contest. In the lead-up to the contest, Owen Pierce and George Maddox both dropped out and endorsed Chung.

At the Party Convention, Andrew Doyle (Meyer's Vice President) announced he would not be Vice President after Inauguration Day due to prostate problems. Meyer, considering Chung and Maddox for her ticket, eventually chose Connecticut Senator Tom James to be her running mate.

General election campaign[]

Within a week of the convention, both the Meyer/James and the O'Brien/Montez campaigns were out on the trail. The Meyer campaign began in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Maine. The O'Brien campaign began in Florida. Both campaigns were affected by a hurricane set to hit North Carolina. Meyer inadvertently grounded flights in the wrong state in an effort to use the hurricane as a photo op. The hurricane would end up hitting in Florida where O'Brien and Montez were campaigning, giving them a famous image of O'Brien pulling a teddy bear out of wreckage.

PresidentialDebate

Meyer and O'Brien at the first presidential debate; September 2016.

Following a shooting in Pittsburgh in September 2016, Tom James drew criticism for referring to the gunman as a victim too. James walked back his statements and offered a heartfelt apology to those he offended. His sincerity shocked members of Meyer's campaign.

In October 2016, the Families First Bill would see a vote in the House of Representatives. However, due to the bills growing unpopularity, the Meyer administration secretly lobbied for the bill to fail. Their efforts would prove successful. However, Representative Moyes suspected wrongdoing in this and called an investigation into why exactly the bill failed. During a congressional hearing, the extent of the Medileaks scandal would inadvertently be revealed. The Meyer team would exit the hearings relatively unscathed, legally, by scapegoating senior Meyer staffer Bill Ericsson. Ericsson was arrested on November 10.

Debates[]

  • In September 2016, the first presidential debate between President Selina Meyer and Senator Bill O'Brien took place. According to Wendy Keegan, Meyer won the first debate (mentioned in Mommy Meyer).
  • In October 2016, the vice presidential debate between Senator Tom James and Senator Laura Montez took place. (mentioned in B/ill)

Results[]

Polls for the election indicated that the race was extremely close between Selina Meyer and Bill O'Brien. At approximately 2:30 AM ET on November 9, CNN called the state of Virginia for Selina Meyer, resulting in a 269-269 electoral tie.

Nevada recount[]

See also: 2016 United States presidential election in Nevada

On November 9, with all of the votes counted, O'Brien's lead over Meyer's was less than half a percent, which by Nevada state law allowed for a possible recount. If Meyer were to win a recount, she would win Nevada's six electoral votes--and therefore the presidency.

Meyer senior strategist Kent Davison claimed that there was statistical evidence of missing ballots somewhere in the state. Meyer staffer Richard Splett discovered from O'Brien hire James Whitman that Washoe County was the location of the missing ballots. On November 17, acting on a tip, US Justice Department deputies found an estimated 10,000 uncounted mail-in ballots hoarded by an anti-Meyer postal worker. 54-year-old Vance Otlow was bitter with Meyer after the Meyer Postal Commission had shut down a plurality of post offices nationwide in 2015. The Nevada Supreme Court ruled that the recount deadline would be extended until these new ballots would be counted.

On November 18, the new ballots were leaning heavily towards O'Brien. It would soon be discovered that these uncounted ballots were military absentees. On November 20, O'Brien was officially certified the winner, extending his lead. This extension led to O'Brien overtaking Meyer in terms of the national popular vote.

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Economic fallout[]

See also: Black Wednesday (2016) and 2016 United States banking crisis

The uncertainty following the election would result in economic turmoil. On November 9, the Dow Jones experienced it's worst day since the 2008 economic crisis. Wanting to neutralize Tom James, Meyer made James economy czar, forcing him to take the fall for any financial woes. After taking over his economic task force, Meyer met E.M. Wheelright CEO Charlie Baird, and would develop a romantic relationship with the banker.

On December 9, 2016, the Dow Jones dropped 3,220 points. Meyer's economic task-force, led by Tom James, came to the decision that they had to bail out three banks. Meyer bailed out Janders Capital because they were based in Illinois, a crucial state in the upcoming congressional presidential vote. Having to choose between Paulsten-Berheim and E.M. Wheelright (Baird's bank), Meyer hesitated to make a decision. Meyer was frightful of the appearance of bailing out a cohort's bank, even though bailing out Wheelright would be a better decision for the economy. On December 11, E.M. Wheelright entered chapter 11 bankruptcy. This ended Baird's and Meyer's relationship. On December 12, the Dow Jones began to recover.

2017 contingent election[]

House of Representatives presidential vote[]

The House of Representatives presidential vote was held on January 3, 2017, following the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment to elect the president between candidates Selina Meyer and Bill O'Brien. Notably, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Vermont abstained from the vote, in an effort to prevent any candidate from achieving 26 votes.

Neither O'Brien nor Meyer received a majority of the vote. On January 5, House Speaker Jim Marwood declared that the House of Representatives would not convene again to decide the presidency.

See also[]

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