2020 had been a particularly divisive year for the GOP. After the field was cleared for the most part following Iowa and New Hampshire, the only two remaining were Governor "Goldy" Water of Washington and Senator Ollie S. Freake Freak of Michigan. The moderates and hawks in the GOP suffered a decisive defeat in 2016 when Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky won the GOP nomination. Paul however would go on to lose narrowly to the Democratic ticket of Hillary Clinton and Louisville Mayor Tee N. Eff. Though Hillary's administration was relatively popular at first, in 2018 Hillary resigned after being caught having an affair with a 19 year old intern. Vice President Eff was considered by many to be too far to the left by many, yet at the same time excited the leftwing base of the party.
By the 2020 primaries and caucuses Sen. Freake was the last hope of the moderate wing of the GOP. The hawks were slightly more comfortable with Water than they had been with Paul, but they on average decided to break towards Freake. Winning by a fluke in Iowa, Freake was able to win over 30% nationwide in the primaries and carried 12 states.
Blue - Gov. Water
Green - Sen. Freake
On the Democratic side everyone worried that President Eff's call for a new socialist society was going too far. To quell their concerns, President Eff decided to offer Sen. Freake to be his running mate, hoping the public would see the Democratic ticket as more appealing. Governor Water chose Congressman S.S. Venue of Tennessee for his running mate. while Dem ticket picked up steam after the convention, the anti-southern gaffes of Sen. Freake proved deadly. Over the last 22 years the Democratic party had been slowly working to retake the south, embracing changing demographics. The coastal south had been moving left since 2008 and against a lessor candidate Clinton would have possibly made a clean sweep of the southeast coastal states. TNF being from Kentucky, and his running mate being African American, there had been hopes of continuing the trend, however once the gaffes started rolling, the southerns started walking away in droves.
By election day the race was a toss up, and expected to go on into the late night. At 2:37am, CST, the race was finally called.....
Governor "Goldy" Water / Rep. S.S. Venue - 275 EV 48.2%
President Tee N. Eff / Sen. Ollie S. Freake - 263 EV 47.3%
