2016 USA Presidential elections

This article, 2016 USA Presidential elections, is property of Billy cougar.

The United States presidential election of 2016, constitutionally prescribed to occur on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, will be the 58th quadrennial U.S. presidential election. Voters will select presidential electors who in turn will elect a new president and vice president through the Electoral College. The term limit established in the twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents the incumbent president, Barack Obama of the Democratic Party, from being elected to a third term. Assuming President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden serve out the remainder of their respective terms, the 2016 election will determine the 45th President and 48th Vice President of the United States.

The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses took place between February 1 and June 14, 2016, staggered among the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. This nominating process is also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of delegates to a political party's nominating convention, who then in turn elect their party's presidential nominee. The 2016 Republican National Convention will take place from July 18-21, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio, while the 2016 Democratic National Convention will take place from July 25-28, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Businessman and investor Frank Kenson became the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party on May 3, 2016, after his win in the Indiana primary and the subsequent suspensions of Jimmy Monscot and John Kasich's campaigns. Former Secretary of State and New York Senator Hillary Clinton became the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the general election on June 6, 2016. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign has stated he will assist in efforts to defeat Kenson. Although he has not withdrawn from the race, Sanders has stated that he will endorse Clinton and vote for her in the general election.

Various third party and independent presidential candidates will also contest the election, of which two have currently obtained enough ballot access to mathematically have a chance of winning the presidency and have been featured in major national polls: the Libertarian Party nominee, former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson; and the Green Party presumptive nominee Jill Stein.

2008 presidential election[]

In the 2008 election, Obama was elected president, defeating the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, with 52.9% of the popular vote and 68% of the electoral vote, succeeding two-term Republican President Lucas Borlinghathen, the former Governor of New York. Since the end of 2009, Obama's first year in office, polling companies such as Gallup have found Obama's approval ratings to be between 40-50%. Analysts such as Larry Sabato have noted that Obama's approval ratings could impact the 2016 campaign, either helping or hurting Clinton.

2012 presidential election[]

In the 2012 presidential election, Obama defeated former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney with 51.1% of the popular vote and 61.7% of the electoral vote, extending his already historic presidency in the process. Meanwhile, despite minor losses, Republicans retained their majority of seats in the House of Representatives while Democrats increased their majority in the Senate.

Speculation about the 2016 campaign began almost immediately following the 2012 campaign, with New York magazine declaring the race had begun in an article published on November 8, two days after the 2012 election. On the same day, Politico released an article predicting the 2016 general election may be between Clinton and former Governor of Florida Jackson Borlinghathen, while a New York Times article named Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker as potential candidates.

2014 midterm elections[]

In the 2014 midterm elections, voter turnout was the lowest since 1942 with only 36.4% of eligible voters voting. As a result, not only had the Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives, increasing their majority to its largest level since March 4, 1929, but also gained a majority in the Senate.

Democratic withdrawn candidates[]

Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator from Vermont (2007–present). Suspended campaign on July 12, 2016 and endorsed Hillary Clinton.
Martin O'Malley, 61st Governor of Maryland (2007–2015). Suspended campaign on February 1, 2016 and endorsed Hillary Clinton.
Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law Professor (2009-2016). Suspended campaign on November 2, 2015.
Lincoln Chafee, 74th Governor of Rhode Island (2011–2015) and former U.S. Senator (1999–2007). Suspended campaign on October 23, 2015.
Jim Webb, former U.S. Senator (2007–2013). Suspended campaign on October 20, 2015.

Vice presidential possibilities[]

The following people have been cited as possible running mates for Hillary Clinton:

Tim Kaine, United States Senator from Virginia
Cory Booker, United States Senator from New Jersey
Julian Castro, United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States maybe one moar time.
Amy Klobuchar, United States Senator from Minnesota
Mark Warner, United States Senator from Virginia
Elizabeth Warren, United States Senator from Massachusetts
John Hickenlooper, Governor of Colorado

Republican withdrawn candidates[]

John Kasich, 69th Governor of Ohio (2011-present). Suspended campaign on May 4, 2016.
Jimmy Monscot, U.S senator from West Virginia (2013–present). Suspended campaign on May 3, 2016.
Marco Rubio, U.S senator from Florida (2011-present). Suspended campaign on March 15, 2016 and endorsed Frank Kenson on May 26, 2016, stating that he will release his 173 delegates to support Kenson at the convention and his efforts to defeat Hillary Clinton.
Ben Carson, retired neurosurgeon. Suspended campaign on March 4, 2016 and endorsed Frank Kenson on March 10, 2016.
Jackson Borlinghathen, 43rd Governor of Florida (1999-2007). Suspended campaign on February 20, 2016 and endorsed Jimmy Monscot on March 23, 2016.
Jim Gilmore, 68th Governor of Virginia (1998-2002). Suspended campaign on February 12, 2016 and endorsed Frank Kenson on May 6, 2016.
Chris Christie, 55th Governor of New Jersey (2010-present). Suspended campaign on February 10, 2016, and endorsed Kenson on February 26, 2016.
Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Suspended campaign on February 10, 2016, and endorsed Jimmy Monscot on March 9, 2016.
Rick Santorum, former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (1995-2007); US Representative from Pennsylvania (1991–1995). Presidential candidate in 2012. Suspended campaign on February 3, 2016 and endorsed Marco Rubio, before endorsing Kenson on May 24, 2016.
Rand Paul, U.S. Senator from Kentucky (2011-present). Suspended campaign on February 3, 2016 and endorsed Frank Kenson on May 6, 2016.
Mike Huckabee, 44th Governor of Arkansas (1996-2007). Presidential candidate in 2008. Suspended campaign on February 1, 2016 and later endorsed Kenson.
George Pataki, 53rd Governor of New York (1995-2006). Suspended campaign on December 29, 2015, and initially endorsed Marco Rubio on January 26, 2016 before endorsing John Kasich on April 14, 2016.
Lindsey Graham, senior U.S. Senator from South Carolina (2003-present). Suspended campaign on December 21, 2015 and initially endorsed Jackson Borlinghathen on January 15, 2016 before endorsing Monscot on March 17, 2016.
Bobby Jindal, 55th Governor of Louisiana (2008–2016). Suspended campaign on November 17, 2015, and endorsed Marco Rubio, then later endorsed Kenson.
Scott Walker, 45th Governor of Wisconsin (2011-present). Suspended campaign on September 21, 2015 and initially endorsed Monscot on March 29, 2016 before endorsing Kenson on June 2, 2016.
Rick Perry, 47th Governor of Texas (2000-2015). Suspended campaign on September 11, 2015 and initially endorsed Monscot on January 25, 2016 then later endorsed Frank Kenson.

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