The Favorite Daughter
ELECTION NIGHT 2016
Susana Martinez/Mike Pence- 277 EV, 51.2% PV
Hillary Clinton/Amy Klobuchar- 261 EV, 48.8% PV
New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez's unlikely trip to the White House began on a muggy night in late April. Delegates from New Mexico were unpledged, nominated by a new convention approved by the state party. The ongoing three car pile-up between the frontrunner Donald Trump, the runner up Ted Cruz, and the lagging third place Ben Carson was wrecking the Party's chances at retaking the White House. "We've been handed the perfect candidate to run against, Hillary Clinton, and we're going to let it slip away," a New Mexico delegate said, speaking under the condition of anonymity.
At this meeting, they invited their Governor, the first Latina to hold that office, to hear their vision. Because of their unbound status, they would sit out the first ballot. Trump, Cruz, Carson, and the other primary winners would deadlock the convention on the first ballot. Since their withdrawal from the race for the nomination, New Mexico delegates had actively worked to build relationships with delegates bound to Governors Chris Christie and Jeb Bush as well as Senator Marco Rubio. They all had found common ground in seeking an electable conservative.
Governor Martinez gave the organizers the freedom to operate. When they had signed petitions from the delegates pledged to the withdrawn candidates, and even several delegates pledged to those still vying for the nomination, Martinez agreed to place a call to the withdrawn candidates. In the weeks ahead, Governor Martinez attended large rallies and fundraisers for the GOP Senate candidates in Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada. She was laying the ground work for her swing state campaign.
Several leaders in the party, included the withdrawn candidates, placed the notion of nominating a non-candidate in the public consciousness. Their talking points became reality when the New Mexico delegation placed Governor Martinez's name in contest on the second ballot. Christie, Bush, and Rubio delegates flocked to Governor Martinez, pushing her into a fourth place in terms of delegates. Without effort from the Martinez people, Governors Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker took to the stage and endorsed Martinez's candidacy for the President. Their middling amount of delegates barely pushed Martinez ahead of Carson, eliminating him from the fifth round.
With Carson-Cruz seemingly united, there were some concerns Martinez would fall by the wayside. However, those fears were stunningly put to bed when Governor Martinez placed just two delegates ahead of Ted Cruz, eliminating him from the seventh ballot. Martinez held a late-night meeting Cruz leaders and promised to nominate Governor Mike Pence of Indiana as her running mate. They accepted the deal as a sign of her conservative commitment.
Governor Susana Martinez was officially nominated by the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland on the 7th Ballot. Her nominee for running mate, Governor Mike Pence, was nominated on his first vote.
In contrast, Hillary Clinton was nominated alongside Amy Klobuchar to represent the Democratic Party on the first ballot.
The general election campaign was a slog. The Martinez campaign had virtually no infrastructure in place, low name recognition, and a difficult time generating small dollar donations. With little money and little time, Governor Martinez worked harder at more events than any presidential candidate in the history of the Republic.
Attacks against Mike Pence's record on social issues poured into swing states. Martinez responded with her characteristic defense of the ticket: We are the party of leadership and integrity. She would then turn to Clinton's chronic inability to manage global hotspots as Secretary of State and her aversion to respecting the law and telling the truth. Huge amounts of money and a very favorable media characterized Clinton's lead.
Throughout most of the fall campaign, the race shifted from being a straight-up tie to a <1 point lead for Clinton. Several major states tracked closely with the national numbers. The Martinez campaign, however, still had paid polling operations in New Mexico. Those internal polls consistently showed Martinez approximately three points ahead of her public polls in the state.
On the eve of the election, Martinez get a rousing speech to thousands of supporters claiming that she truly believed they were destined for victory the next day, against all the money, the media, and the public data. The silent majority, the logic goes, will bring an end to the corrupt Clintonian politics politics of the past.
In an exceedingly narrow election, Governor Susana Martinez, the unlikely nominee, became the unlikely Fourty-Fifth President of the United States.
