Timeline (A New American Century)

The entire timeline is undergoing a rewrite at a moment, especially the democratic primaries. It's going to be a gradual process.

March

 * 23rd: Senator Ted Cruz announces that he will run for President

April

 * 12th: Former Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announces that she will run for President via Twitter
 * 13th: Senator Marco Rubio announces his run for President

May

 * 27th: Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum announces his candidacy for the Republican Nomination.
 * 28th: Former Governor of New York George Pataki declares his candidacy for the Republican Nomination
 * 30th: Former Governor of Maryland Martian O'Malley announces his candidacy for the Democratic Party.
 * 31st: Senator Warren confirms that she will not run for President.

June

 * 1st: Lindsey Graham announces his campaign for the Republican Party.
 * 3rd: Lincoln Chafee announces his campaign for the Democratic nomination.
 * 4th: Rick Perry Declares his candidacy for the Republican nomination.
 * 15th: Jeb Bush declares his candidacy for the presidential nomination of the Republican Party.
 * 16th: Point of Divergence: Donald Trump announces that he will not be running for the Presidency at the behest of his wife, Melania. He does, however, pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee.
 * 24th: Bobby Jindal declares his candidacy for the Republican Party.
 * 30th: Chris Chistie declares his candidacy for the Republican Party.

July

 * 2nd: Jim Webb formally announces his candidacy for the Presidential Nomination of the Democratic Party.
 * 13th: Scott Walker announces his campaign for the Republican primary, joining many others in what has become the largest primary field ever.
 * 21st: John Kasich announces his run for the Republican nomination as well.
 * 30th: Jim Gilmore announces his run for the Republican Nomination as well.

August

 * 3rd: The First presidential forum is held, featuring 15 Republican candidates.
 * 6th: The First Republican debates are held by Fox News. The Debate was tiered by level of support, with the top ten candidates debating in a separate debate from seven other, lesser known candidates. The 10 candidates in the main debate were: Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, and John Kasich. The Seven in the smaller debate were Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, Carly Fiorina, Jim Gilmore, and George Pataki. The under card debate sees Fiorina's breakout, allowing her to gain more support. The main debate stage's spotlight is grabbed by three Senators: Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul, who all stand out among the large field. Cruz is considered the winner, with Rubio and Paul tied for second. Jeb Bush was noticeably flat in the debate, making commentators question his chances.
 * 11th: Lawrence Lessig begins planning and considering a run for the Democratic Nomination.

September

 * 3rd: Opinion polls conducted by CNN show that Hillary Clinton has an extremely slim lead among Democratic voters who prefer her, with 33% to Bernie Sanders' 32%, the rest being for minor candidates Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chaffee. The Republican poll shows that Cruz and Rubio are battling foer the top spot of candidacy for the Presidential Nomination, with Rand Paul not far behind.
 * 11th: Former Governor of Texas Rick Perry drops out of the Republican race following paltry fundraising, poor polling, and a highly critical first debate performance
 * 16th: Second Republican Debate in Simi, California. Once again the debate is tiered, with the prime time event featuring 10 candidates: Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Scott Walker. The under card debate featured Bobby Jindal, Lindsey Graham, Rick Santorum, and George Pataki. The winner of the debate was deemed to be Carly Fiorina, whose rise to stardom seemed to only being going in the right direction for her. Rubio and Cruz also turned in strong performances. Rand Paul had a more mixed reception to his debate performance, while Kasich, Bush, and Walker performances were seen as poor.
 * 21st: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker suspends his campaign following his debate performance and polling 2% in the polls.

October

 * 13th: First Democratic debate. Clinton, Sanders, O'Malley, Webb, and Chafee were all in attendance. Sanders turned in an energetic performance, slamming Hillary Clinton's big corporate donors, and how she bows to Wall Street bigwigs. He is deemed the winner, with many wondering if Clinton's perceived "coronation," will be easy. O'Malley received props for his performance, while Webb and Chafee stumbled and failed to even meet expectations.
 * 20th: Jim Webb drops out of the race.
 * 23rd: Lincoln Chafee drops out after his terrible debate performance, as well as failing to break 1% in the polls. In a surprise move, he endorses Bernie Sanders over Clinton
 * 28th: The third Republican debate is held. Rand Paul turns in an impressive rebound performance, declared the night's biggest winner. Rubio is seen as the runner up, while Cruz seemingly struggles among the field. Fiorina has a more subdued performance, while others like Carson, Bush, and Christie struggle.

November

 * 4th: Candidate registration for New Hampshire begins. 15 Republicans are registered and three Democrats are registered.
 * 6th: Alabama Primary deadline. 13 Republicans register, and five democrats.
 * 6th: South Democratic Forum with Clinton, Sanders, O'Malley, and Biden.
 * 10th: The fourth Republican primary debate takes place in Wisconsin. Only eight candidates make the prime time line up: Bush, Rubio, Carson, Fiorina, Kasich, Cruz, and Paul. The rest, Graham, Huckabee, Christie, Pataki, and Jindal are all relegated to the under debate. Bush seemingly gets back into the race with a more polished performance, but it is not enough to overcome Cruz and Rubio, who hammered Bush for his ties to his brother's disastrous presidency.
 * 13th: 130 people are dead in Paris after multiple, coordinated terrorist attacks are carried out in the city overnight. President Obama offers his condolences for the victims. Meanwhile, his approval rating drops to 40% amid a wave of fear over potential homeland attacks, as well as the stagnant economy, which has posted a negative GDP for the last two quarters, indicating a small recession and a spike in unemployment.
 * 14th: Just the second Democratic debate is held. The debate featured all candidates still in the race. Foreign policy and terrorism were the main issues, as the debate came just 2 hour removed from the attacks in Paris. Sanders laid out his plan for dealing with terrorism, while Clinton tried to channel the unity in the aftermath of 9/11 with the Paris attacks, a move that was seen as weak and in bad taste.This allowed Sanders to be declared the winner.
 * 17th: Bobby Jindal suspends his campaign.

December

 * 15th: Fifth Republican Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada. The prime time lineup was: Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Carson, Bush, Fiorina, Christie, Paul, and Kasich. In the under card debate, there was: Huckabee, Santorum,  Graham, and Pataki. The primary debate clash came over Foreign policy, Immigration,  the NSA.
 * 19th: Third Democratic debate in Manchester, New Hampshire. All four candidates participated. The primary issues were Wall Street connections, Plans to take down ISIS, The Assad Regime, General stability in the Middle East, and the role of the first spouse. Exit polls placed Clinton as the winner, with Biden in second, and Sanders in third. Sander's non-interventionist stance came up short when confronted with the prospect of taking down ISIS, and Clinton's Wall Street connection hurt her performance as a whole, but her solid answers to the other matters allowed her to come out on Top. Biden was criticized because he stayed out of the Wall Street issue, something commentators felt he should have capitalized on.
 * 20th: Martin O'Malley suspends his campaign, throwing his support to Hillary Clinton.
 * 21st: Lindsey Graham and Chris Chris Christie drop out of the race following paltry polling.
 * 23rd: Opinion Polls conducted by Quinnipiac are released. On the Democratic side, Sanders leads for the first time, with 45.2%, and Clinton trails with 44.6%.
 * 24th: John McAfee announces his campaign for the Libertarian Nomination.
 * 29th: George Pataki withdraws from the race.

January

 * 6th: Gary Johnson announces his candidacy for the Libertarian Party.
 * 14th: Sixth Republican Debate. Like all the other debates, The debate was divided between a prime time debate, and an under card debate. The three in the under card debate were Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum. The prime time event was between Cruz, Bush, Carson, Kasich, and Rubio.
 * 17th: The fourth Democratic debate between Clinton and Sanders. This time, the debating got more intense and bitter, with Sanders unabashedly supporting universal health care and gun control measures. Clinton emphasized her idea of inclusive capitalism, which Sanders slammed her for as it would allow big banks to remain unregulated. When Sanders is questioned by moderator Don Lemon about his democratic socialist views, he stands by them. Sanders is declared the winner for being unapologetic in his views, while Clinton struggles further.
 * 28th: The seventh Republican debate commences. Bush, Carson, Cruz, Kasich, Paul, and Rubio all participate. Fiorina, Huckabee, Santorum, and Gilmore participated in the under card debate. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio turned in strong performances, with Bush giving one as well. Ben Carson floundered after being pressed on foreign policy, while Cruz was more subdued and quiet throughout the affair. Rubio and Cruz had a noticeably heated debate on immigration, ending with Cruz speaking Spanish, reviewers calling it a bizarre moment.

February

 * 1st: The all-important Iowa Caucus is finally held:
 * Bernie Sanders is declared the winner in an upset with the closest margin in the history of the Caucus
 * Ted Cruz, like Sanders, wins in a very close race, with Rubio finishing a very close second and Paul a closer third.
 * 2nd: Following terrible performances in Iowa, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Jim Gilmore all suspend their campaigns.
 * 4th: Fifth Democratic debate. Both Sanders and Clinton traded victories. Many saw Sanders as the winner in the area of money in politics, and the role of big corporations. Clinton was the winner in foreign policy, declaring that Sanders' ideas were not realistic given the past circumstances.
 * 6th: Point of Divergence: 8th Republican Debate: Rubio turns in a strong performance after his narrow loss in Iowa. In a near-disaster of a moment, Cruz accused Rubio of using pre-planned speech lines to garner acclaim, to which Rubio fires back that his lines are meant to inspire the American people and that a real leader, unlike Cruz, inspires their people to strive for the best.
 * 9th: The New Hampshire primaries for both parties:
 * Bernie Sanders upsets Hillary Clinton once again. This puts the Clinton campaign in a tailspin.
 * Marco Rubio wins the Republican primary after beating back Rand Paul and Ted Cruz
 * 10th: Carly Fiorina suspends her campaign after it had gone dormant for weeks.
 * 11th: 6th Democratic Debate. Clinton, in a surprise, was able to catch Sanders off guard many times, going on the full offensive, something she had held back on in the past.
 * 20th: The Nevada and South Carolina primary contests are held
 * Clinton was perceived as needing to hold Nevada to remain competetitive, which many thought was possible after her fiery debate performance. However, it was not enough. Once again, Sanders upset Clinton with 51% of the vote.
 * Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz once again come close, as Rubio makes it over the finish line and takes South Carolina.
 * Jeb Bush suspends his campaign after receiving only 2% of the vote.
 * 23rd: The Republican caucuses in Nevada are held:
 * Rubio pulls off a victory again, winning 14 delegates, Cruz winning 7, and Paul winning six.
 * Ben Carson suspends his campaign.
 * 25th: 10th Republican Debate: The remaining Republicans are Rubio, Cruz, Kasich, and Paul. The debate is generally more subdued after the exits of the more chaotic candidates.
 * 27th: Clinton finally wins her first primary contest in South Carolina by a wide margin. It is seen as a glimmer of life for her to jump back into the contest

March

 * 1st: The first Super Tuesday primaries are held for both parties
 * For the Democratic Party, Clinton rebounds with a majority of the victories, winning the states of Alabama, American Samoa, Arkansas, Georgia, Tenneesee, Texas, and Virginia, while Sanders wins Colorado, Massachusetts, his home state of Vermont, Minnesota, and Oklahoma. The delegate count begins to get closer as margin thins out.
 * For the Republican Party, Rubio managed to win the states of Minnesota, Vermont, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Georgia, while Cruz won Alaska, Oklahoma, Alabama, and his home state of Texas. Paul won the states of Arkansas and Tennessee
 * 4th: John Kasich suspends his presidential campaign after failing to win a single primary contest so far.
 * 5th: More primaries are held.
 * While Bernie Sanders managed to win Kansas, Nebraska, and Maine by large margins, Clinton made up for it by trouncing him in Louisiana.
 * Ted Cruz won Kansas, Louisiana and Maine, while Paul took his home state of Kentucky. Rubio went winless on this night
 * 6th: Yet more primaries are held.
 * Bernie Sanders won handily in Maine, while Rubio picked up a win handily in Puerto Rico.
 * 7th Democratic Debate: In Flint Michigan, the primary focuses of the Debate were Infrastructure, the ongoing water crisis. Commentators agree that Clinton came out the strongest from this debate, most likely helping her in future contests.
 * 8th: Even more primaries are held
 * Sanders is able to take Michigan, while Clinton takes Mississippi
 * Cruz wins Mississippi and Idaho, while Rubio wins Hawaii and Michigan.
 * 9th: Clinton and Sanders square off in a debate on education. Sanders' plan is free college for public universities while eliminating student loans. Clinton agrees with Sanders, but proposes two years of free tuition instead, in order to alleviate taxes. Both are declared winners, as neither had any major gaffes through the night.
 * 10th: Clinton picks up a huge endorsement from President Obama at a joint rally. This drives up her numbers among Democratic voters, but is seen to have hurt her among independents, who disapprove of Obama by 58%.
 * 12th: Northern Marianas, Wyoming, and D.C. hold their primaries
 * Rubio wins in D.C., while Cruz nabs Wyoming.
 * Clinton wins in the Northern Marianas.
 * 15th: Super Tuesday II is held
 * Hillary Clinton rebounds back by winning Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio, while Sanders wins Illinois and Missouri
 * Marco Rubio wins Florida, Illinois, Northern Marianas, and Ohio, while Cruz wins North Carolina and Missouri.
 * 22nd: Arizona and Utah hold their primaries, while Idaho holds its Democratic primary
 * Sanders wins big in Utah and Idaho, taking over 75% of the vote, while Clinton responds by taking Arizona, a key swing state in the general, by nearly 60%
 * Rubio and Cruz trade victories, the former taking Arizona and the latter taking Utah.
 * 26th: Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii all hold their Democratic primaries
 * Sanders easily wins all three contests.
 * Sanders and Clinton's close contest sparks rumors about whether the Democratic National Convention could become brokered.

April

 * 2nd: North Dakota Republican delegates support Cruz.
 * 5th: Sanders and Cruz win their primaries in Wisconsin
 * 9th: Colorado convention awards its delegates to Rubio in a narrow vote.
 * 9th: Wyoming Democratic Caucus is won by Sanders
 * 19th: Clinton wins in New York by 55%-45%, but the vote was unexpectedly closer than any thought.
 * 26th: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island all hold their primaries.
 * Clinton achieves victory in all states but Rhode Island, which she loses handily to Sanders
 * Rubio sweeps all five states, widening his gap against Cruz.

May

 * 3rd: The Indiana primary is held. It is considered the last chance for Clinton to solidify her lead. Ahead of the contest, Ted Cruz picks up a crucial endorsement from Indiana Governor Mike Pence
 * In another upset, Sanders beats out Clinton with 52% of the vote, giving him enough delegates to effectively tie the race.
 * Despite the endorsement of Mike Pence, Rubio beats Cruz by just 3000 votes.
 * 7th: Clinton claims the Guam primary contest
 * 10th: Sanders wins the West Virginia primary contest
 * 17th: Sanders also wins both Oregon and Kentucky

June

 * 4th: Virgin Islands Democratic Caucus is won handily by Clinton
 * 5th: The last Democratic debate: Dubbed, "the point of no return," for both candidates, Clinton and Sanders meet for the final time in what could decide the nomination. They went back and forth on every issue. Clinton was very well prepared, but Sanders was just as ready as she was. In the end, no news outlet rules the debate in either candidates direction, leaving it up to the voters.
 * 6th: Puerto Rico Democratic Caucus won by Clinton.
 * 7th: The final primary contests are held in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
 * On the Republican side, Ted Cruz won Montana, New Mexico, and South Dakota, while Rubio won South Dakota and New Jersey. The counting for California went late into the night, but it was clear that Rubio would win the state and the nomination. After it became clear that Rubio had won, Cruz suspended his campaign and endorsed his fellow Senator
 * Marco Rubio becomes the Republican Party's presumptive nominee.
 * The Democratic side is a different story. Sanders wins North Dakota and Montana, while Clinton wins South Dakota, New Jersey, and New Mexico. California is also close. Into the next morning, California is yet to be called. Finally at 1 PM, the next day, California is officially called for...Bernie Sanders! It is the biggest upset of the primary season so far.
 * However, there is a twist: the contest was so close that Bernie only wins one more delegate than Hillary. There are enough unpledged delegates between them that none of the receive the minimum amount of delegates to become the presumptive nominee. This leads to the first brokered convention in over 150 years.

July

 * 12th: To avoid picking a Vice President in a rush, both Clinton and Sanders make VP announcements. Clinton selected Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, while Sanders selects Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.
 * 15th: Rubio announces South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as his Vice Presidential nominee
 * 21st: The Republican National Convention is held in Cleveland, Ohio.
 * Marco Rubio is confirmed as the Republican nominee for President.
 * Nikki Haley is confirmed as the Republican nominee for Vice President.
 * Many speeches are made by prominent Republican politicians, past and present, as well as former Cabinet and Pentagon officials, prominent celebrities and important people.
 * 28th: The Democratic National Convention is held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
 * A brokered convention is held. The first three ballots remain deadlocked.
 * On the fourth ballot, something happens that surprises everyone: New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand begins running from the floor. She was a progressive Senator with a similar track record to Sanders. On the fourth ballot, she gains enough 65 delegates from New York, most of them Bernie Sanders' delegates. On the fifth ballot, as New York went to vote, Gillibrand officially endorses Hillary Clinton. Her 65 delegates all vote for Clinton. This, along with her other delegates, is enough to officially make Hillary Clinton the Democratic nominee. The move was seen as controversial, leading to speculation that Clinton and Gillibrand had cut a deal to get her the nomination.
 * Sanders endorses Clinton in his speech, but does not mention her by name at all. His speech is more acclaimed than Clinton's.

September

 * 26th: The first Presidential debate is held at Hofstra University. Rubio and Clinton meet on stage for the first time. The debate was divided into six segments, each of approximately 15 minutes in length, with the moderator introducing a topic and giving each candidate two minutes, followed by approximately 8 minutes and 45 seconds of facilitated discussion between the two candidates, with both candidates receiving approximately equal time. The questions discussed during the 90 minutes were at the sole discretion of the moderator, and were not shared beforehand with the commission or with either campaign. Each candidate spoke in front of a podium. Besides applause at the beginning and end of the debate, there was no audience participation allowed, but sporadic applause occurred at various points throughout the 90 minutes.
 * The segments were on the economy and job creation, trade, the federal deficit, race relations and policing, the war on terror, the foreign policy of the United States, and each candidate's experience in the political and business realm
 * Rubio was seen as the winner of the first debate, with the average of all polls conducted after the debate giving him 44% to Clinton 40%. Rubio hammered Clinton over her perceived role in the controversy surrounding the DNC's brokered convention, which Clinton denied, but her answer was seen as weak, as well as what cost her the contest.

October

 * 4th: Vice Presidential Debate. Nikki Haley and Elizabeth Warren met in debate for the first and only time. The candidates were seated at a table with Quijano. The debate consisted of nine segments, each 10 minutes in length. Both candidates were given two minutes to respond to questions, with the remaining time used for a deeper discussion of the topic. Quijano asked questions about the historical implications of a woman serving in the White House, the economy, Social Security, police and race relations, nuclear weapons, abortion, the Obama track record, and religious faith.
 * While closer than the first presidential debate, Nikki Haley was seen as the winner of this debate. She hammered Warren on her support for the Obama agenda, when the economy just exited a four-quarter recession that rose unemployment by 3.4%. Warren kept interrupting Haley, saying that she and Senator Rubio wanted to take us back to the "golden age of the Great Recession," through, "big corporatism policies that aim to crush the middle class." Her comment that the recession was, "not as bad as the Bush recession," was not received well, and many said it made Warren look apathetic.
 * 9th: The second Presidential debate is held at Washington University of St. Louis. The debate was conducted in a "town meeting" format on Sunday, October 9, with an audience of uncommitted voters selected by the Gallup Organization. The CPD originally stipulated that half of the questions come from the audience, while the other half would come from the moderators "based on topics of broad public interest as reflected in social media and other sources." The Commission subsequently invited members of the public to submit and vote on questions through the bipartisan Open Debate Coalition's website. Moderators chose from the 30 most popular questions. CNN's Anderson Cooper and ABC's Martha Raddatz were the moderators. Candidates had two minutes to respond with an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate further discussion.
 * Rubio was once again perceived as the winner of the debate. His ability to connect with the crowd on many levels was praised. Clinton, while not winning, was thought to be more careful and thoughtful of her responses than Elizabeth Warren in her debate against Nikki Haley.
 * 15th: The third Presidential debate is held at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. The format mirrored that of the first debate: 90 minutes divided into six topical segments of approximately 15 minutes each. The moderator began each segment with a question and gave each candidate two minutes, followed by facilitated discussion between the two candidates, with each receiving approximately equal time. Questions were at the sole discretion of the moderator. Each candidate was stationed at a podium. Audience participation was confined to applause at the beginning and end of the debate.
 * Unlike the first two debates, Clinton was more prepared this time around, and was considered the winner of this debate. Rubio was seen as too aggressive in this debate, interrupting Clinton repeatedly and asking her to defend the "disastrous Obama agenda," to which Clinton smiled and laughed at Rubio's rudeness, a moment that went viral on liberal websites as Clinton "clapping back," at Rubio without uttering a single word.
 * 20th: A poll by the Wall Street Journal has Rubio and Haley up by 6% in the national popular vote, most likely buoyed by their debate performances.
 * 28th: James Comey announces that he is re-opening the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email scandal, citing new evidence. The move is widely denounced as an opportunistic power grab at swinging the election by an unelected government official. Even Republicans are openly questioning the move, but are privately elated that it might help them even more.

November

 * 8th: The 2016 Presidential election is finally held, alongside House, Senate, and Governor races.
 * Marco Rubio amounts an early lead over Hillary Clinton as polls close at 8 PM EST.
 * By 10:30 PM EST, after the state had been close all night, Rubio is projected to win Minnesota, the first time a Republican has won it since 1972. This is the tipping point state that puts Rubio over 270 electoral votes, declaring him the 45th President of the United States, and Nikki Haley the 48th Vice President of the United States, the highest ranking woman in the history of the United States government.
 * In the House, Republicans see a net gain of one seat.
 * In the Senate, Republicans pick up retiring Senate majority leader Harry Reid's seat with Joe Heck's win over Catherine Cortez-Matso. However, they also lose seats in Illinois and Missouri, with Mark Kirk and Roy Blunt's loses to Tammy Duckworth and Jason Kander, respectively. Kelly Ayotte holds on to her seat in New Hampshire. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, Florida's Lieutenant Governor, wins the open seat vacated by Marco Rubio.
 * In the Governor race, Republicans gain three new seats: Vermont, New Hampshire, and Montana. North Carolina goes into a recount after a close outcome. Pat McCrory is declared the winner later in the month.
 * In the end, Rubio wins 36 states to Clinton's 14 (counting D.C.). He also obtains 52% of the popular vote with over 65,000,000 votes. Overall, he won 342 electoral votes to Clinton's 196. In addition to Minnesota, Rubio managed to win the Rust Belt states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, as well as Maine, all for the first time since 1988. He also won Colorado, New Mexico, and New Hampshire for the Republicans, a first since 2004.
 * 13th: Marco Rubio announces Lanhee Chen as his Chief of Staff, making him the first Chinese AMerican Chief of Staff.
 * 18th: President-Elect Rubio announces that he will nominate former Afghanistan and United Nations Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad as his Secretary of State.
 * This will make him the first Muslim appointed to the Cabinet.
 * 23rd-30th: Rubio continues to announce Cabinet picks
 * James Mattis as Secretary of Defense
 * Michael Steele as Secretary of the Treasury
 * Mae Jemison as Secretary of Energy

December

 * 1st: Rubio announces Viet Dinh as his Attorney General nominee
 * 5th: Governor of New Mexico Susana Martinez is announced as the nominee for Secretary of the Interior
 * 10th: Pennsylvania's Secretary of State formally declares Biden the winner of the state.
 * 12th: Rubio announces Governor of Idaho Butch Otter as his Secretary of Agriculture nominee and Ben Carson as his pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
 * 15th: Rubio announces Linda McMahon, former CEO of WWE, and Naomi Earp, former Chair of the EEOC, as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, respectively.
 * 19th: The Electoral College meets to formally ratify and count the electoral votes of each state, and Rubio confirms the electoral college vote.
 * 20th: Rubio announces Elaine Chao as Secretary of Transportation and Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
 * 22nd: Biden announces Michelle Rhee, former D.C. Public Schools Chancellor as his pick for Secretary of Education and Frances Townsend as his pick for Secretary of Homeland Security

January

 * 3rd: The 115th Congress meets for the first time.
 * 20th: Marco Rubio is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States, and Nikki Haley is inaugurated as the 47th Vice President of the United States.
 * Mattis is confirmed for the position of Secretary of Defense by a 99-1 vote
 * Butch Otter is confirmed as Secretary of Agriculture by a 95-5 vote.
 * 23rd: Michael Steele is confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury by a 60-40 vote
 * Zalmay Khalilzad is also confirmed as Secretary of State by a vote of 93-7.
 * 25th: Viet Dinh is confirmed as Attorney General by a 67-33 vote.
 * 28th: Rubio announces the selection of Neil Gorsuch to fill the Supreme Court vacancy of Antonin Scalia.