2012: Governor Chris Christie/Governor Susana Martinez defeats Governor Andrew Cuomo/Senator Amy Klobuchar
Despite early protests, Chris Christie wins the nomination fairly easy and selects New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, the first Hispanic to appear on a national ticket. At this point, the economy is fairly poor, and polls show Cuomo down 5-7 points. In a desperate move to close the gap, he also selects a female, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. The campaign does get tighter, especially when Obama heads out onto the trail in late October, but Christie wins fairly comfortably on Election Day due to Democratic fatigue and a less than enthusiastic liberal base.
2020: President Chris Christie/Vice President Susana Martinez def. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand/Governor Julian Castro (Elected in 2018 via 3-way race)
Chris Christie's first term gets off to a rough start, as America enters into another economic slump. With a split Congress, Christie was able to pass comprehensive immigration reform under Martinez's leadership, which saw his approvals spike among Latino voters. A long-term debt plan was also established, with the national deficit being sharply reduced. Included in that were small tax increases, which created murmurs of a potential primary challenge to Christie (which never materialized). Overall, Christie/Martinez was seen as a tough, no-nonsense administration that was able to bring about more bi-partisanship than Obama/Biden. However, on Election Day, the economy was still sagging, leading Christie to just narrowly pull off re-election.
2024:
The economy did slightly improve during President Christie's second term, but my 2024, Americans were once again ready to elect a new party to the White House. Former Illinois Governor Lisa Madigan narrowly defeated Cory Booker for the Democratic nomination, much thanks to aid by former President Barack Obama. To unite the party, she selected Cory Booker as her running mate. On the Republican side, Vice President Martinez opted NOT to run for President, and Marco Rubio captured the Republican nomination. He selected Senator Brian Sandoval (defeated Harry Reid in 2016) as his running mate. For the first time in American history, there were not a Caucasian white male on either major ticket.
Note: Much thanks to the work of VP Martinez through immigration reform and other policies, Republicans had vastly improved with Hispanics at this time, with Christie getting 44% to support him for reelection.
