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The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Unionist ticket of Indiana governor Mike Pence and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg defeated the Progressive Vice President Lincoln Chafee and U.S. senator from Washington Denise Crosby. It was the third and most recent presidential election in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote.
Because of term limits, the 43rd president Bill Richardson was unable to run for reelection. This would lead to sitting Vice President Lincoln Chafee securing the Progressive nomination. Indiana Governor Mike Pence would secure the Unionist nomination in a competitive primary which featured one of the largest field of presidential candidates in the party's history.
On July 27, 2020 Vice President Chafee announced that Senator of Washington State Denise Crosby would be his running mate, making her the first woman vice presidential nominee on a major party ticket. On August 12 Governor Pence announced that his running mate would be Michael Bloomberg, a former presidential candidate and Mayor of New York City.
Chafee led in nearly every pre-election nationwide poll and in most swing state polls, leading some calling of Pence's victory one of the greatest political upsets in modern U.S. history. While Chafee received over a million more votes than Pence did, Pence received 15 more Electoral votes and won upset victories in the pivotal Rust Belt region. The electoral college officially voted on December 19, 2020 to confirm Pence as president, and he was inaugurated as president on 4 March 2021.
Background[]
Article Two of the United States Constitution provides that the President and Vice President of the United States must be natural-born citizens of the United States, at least 35 years old, and residents of the United States for a period of at least 14 years. Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the political parties, in which case each party devises a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position. Traditionally, the primary elections are indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf. The general election in November is also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the Electoral College; these electors in turn directly elect the president and vice president.
President Bill Richardson, a Progressive and former U.S. Governor from New Mexico, was ineligible to seek reelection to a third term due to the restrictions of the Twenty-second Amendment; in accordance with Section 1 of the Twentieth Amendment, his term will expire at noon eastern standard time on January 20, 2021.
Likewise ineligible to run for additional terms as president are past two-term presidents Bob Dole, Jerry Brown, and Howard Dean. While he did not run, former president Gary Hart, having only served only one term, was eligible to run for an additional term as president.
Progressive Party nomination[]
| Candidate | Most recent position | Campaign | Campaign Announced | Popular Vote | Contests won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lincoln Chafee |
Vice President of the United States (2013-2021) |
 |
April 12, 2019 | 11,813,593 | 31 |
Withdraw nominees[]
| Candidate | Most recent position | Campaign | Campaign Announced | Campaign Suspended | Popular Vote | Contests won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kamala Harris |
United States Senator from California
(2017) |
|
June 22, 2019 | April 28, 2020 | 4,210,550 | 5 |
Tim Kaine |
United States Senator from Missouri
(2013) |
|
April 30, 2019 | February 22, 2020 | 286,694 | 0 |
Mike Gravel |
Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Winfield
(1987 - 2019) |
|
May 30, 2019 | October 23, 2019 | 98,301 | 0 |
Primaries[]
2020 Progressive Primary Results (Chafee in Gold, Harris in Blue)
Vice President Lincoln Chafee, who also served as Governor of Rhode Island (from 2011-2013), US Senator of Rhode Island (1999-2007), and Mayor of Warwick (1993-1999), became the first Progressive in the field to formally launch a major candidacy for the presidency with an announcement on April 12, 2019. While nationwide opinion polls in 2015 indicated that Chafee was the front-runner for the 2020 Progressive presidential nomination, he would face challenges from Senator Tim Kaine of Missouri, who became the second major candidate when he formally announced on April 30, 2019, that he was running for the Progressive nomination. On May 30, 2019, former Delegate of Winfield Mike Gravel was the third candidate to enter the Progressive primary race, followed by US Senator Kamala Harris of California on June 22, 2019.
Senator Crosby during the Progressive National Convention
On October 23, Gravel withdrew, after failing to qualify for the second PNC-sanctioned debate after adoption of a rule change negated polls which before might have necessitated his inclusion in the debate, narrowing the field to Chafee, Kaine, and Harris.
On February 1, 2020, Chafee won the Iowa caucuses. After poor showings in New Hampshire and Nevada, Senator Kaine withdrew from the presidential race. On April 28, Chafee won the New York primary with 58% of the vote, this would lead to Harris deciding that she would suspend her campaign for the presidency.
National Convention[]
The Progressive National Convention took place from July 13-16, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Notable Speakers included President Richardson, former Presidents Gary Hart, and Jerry Brown, and actor/director Joe Kennedy Jr.
On the third day of the convention Vice President Chafee announced that Washington Senator Denise Crosby would be his running mate making her the first woman vice presidential nominee on a major party ticket.
Unionist Party nomination[]
| Candidate | Most recent position | Campaign Announced | Popular Vote | Delegates won | Contests won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mike Pence |
Governor of Indiana
(2013) |
June 19, 2019 | 8,015,993 | 985/1588 | 24 |
Withdraw nominees[]
| Candidate | Most recent position | Campaign Announced | Campaign Suspended | Popular Vote | Delegates won | Contests won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Governor of Massachusetts
(2015) |
May 15, 2019 | May 21, 2020
(Endorsed Pence) |
6,722,000 | 359/1588 | 8 |
Kevin McCarthy |
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives from California (2007) |
March 23, 2019 | April 29, 2020
(Endorsed Pence) |
938,527 | 74/1588 | 3 |
Susan Collin |
United States Senator from Maine
(1997) |
April 13, 2019 | March 14, 2020
(Endorsed Baker) |
1,040,134 | 70/1588 | 3 |
John Kasich |
Vice President of United States
(2005-2013) |
July 21, 2019 | March 19, 2020 | 1,029,844 | 91/1588 | 0 |
David Clarke |
Sheriff of Milwaukee County
(2002-2019) |
July 9, 2019 | March 4, 2020
(Endorsed Pence) |
886,694 | 8/1588 | 0 |
Michael Bloomberg |
Mayor of New York City
(2002-2013) |
November 24, 2019 | February 29, 2020 (Endorsed Pence) | 475,323 | 1/1588 | 0 |
Susan Brooks |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana
(2013 - 2021) |
May 4, 2019 | February 22, 2020 (Endorsed Collin, then Baker) | 90,755 | 0/1588 | 0 |
Chris Christie |
Governor of New Jersey
(2010-2018) |
June 1, 2019 | February 12, 2020 (Endorsed Pence) | 75,637 | 0/1588 | 0 |
Andrew Yang |
Entrepreneur
Founder of Venture for America |
June 11, 2019 | February 12, 2020 (Endorsed Kasich) | 60,231 | 0/1588 | 0 |
Primaries[]
In the presidential election of 2016, Unionist Senator Hillary Trump and her running mate Senator Mitt Romney of Massachusetts would lose the election to incumbent Progressive president Bill Richardson, after having a highly competitive primary against former general and Secretary of State Colin Powell.
By November of 2018, both of Unionist 2016 front runners Senator Romney, and Secretary Powell had announced that they would not be seeking the party’s nomination for the presidency. Following these announcements many polls showed that the front runner for the nomination was former Vice President and the 2012 Unionist Presidential nominee John Kasich.
The first candidate to announce their candidacy for president was Representative Kevin McCarthy of California on March 23, 2019. Although McCarthy was the first nominee, many didn't see him as a serious candidate for the nominee for being to conservative, and lacking the party's main stream support.
On April 13th less then 24 hours after Vice President Chafee declared that he was seeking the Progressive nomination for the presidency, senior senator of Maine Susan Collins declares her own candidacy for Unionist nomination. Collins speech focused on the new era of the Unionists and took a couple shots at Chafee's time at the Capital.
On May 4th Representative Susan Brooks of Indiana declare her bid for the presidency. Brook would focus her campaign on winning the mid-west. Many political analyst viewed her as not a major candidate for the presidency, and possibly trying to secure herself a place in the administration.
On May 15th, Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts joined the field. Baker who at the time of announcing his candidacy for president had an approval rating of 84%, the second highest in the nation.
On June 1st, former 2016 presidential hopeful and former governor of New Jersey Chris Christie would join the race, Christie for his failed bid in the election before had given him valuable name reaction, but he never polled higher then 3rd among the field.
10 days after Christie announcement founder of Venture for America Andrew Yang would declare his bid for the presidency, Yang considered a long shot candidate focusing on the displacement of American workers through automation and "Human-centered capitalism".
On June 19th, Governor Mike Pence of Indiana would declare his bid for the party's nomination. Pence was seen by many as being to conservative for the main stream members of the would poll well among Evangelicals
On July 17th, Sheriff David Clarke of Milwaukee County would declare his run for the presidency. Clarke was considered a political outsider who ran on a Law and Order Campaign, his bid was not taken serious by many political commentators, although radio host Glenn Beck said he could see Clarke's campaign doing well in urban areas and with such a large field of nominees he should be taken seriously.
On July 21, Former Vice President John Kasich would declare his bid for the presidency. Kasich who had been the Unionist nominee in 2012 had been polling high in among the lead of almost all national polls and had a large war chest built up from the years out of office. Many viewed the former Vice President as the establishment's pick for the presidency.
On November 24, former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg would declare his candidacy for the presidency. Bloomberg decided on an unconventional primary strategy: not to compete in the three states that have primaries or caucuses in February, but to focus his efforts on the later states where is campaign could out spend his opponents on advertising.
2020 Unionist Primary Results (Pence in Blue, Baker in Yellow, McCarthy in Brown, Collins in Red)
On February 3, 2020, the Iowa caucuses would go to Pence, with Collin finishing second, Clarke finishing third.
On February 11, the New Hampshire primary would be go to Governor Baker who focused his campaign on the east coast, Kasich would finish second, and Collins third. Following the poor performances during the primary former Governor Christie and Andrew Yang would drop out of the race.
On February 22, the Nevada Caucuses would be won by McCarthy who had focused his campaign on winning the state would move him into second in the primary with 15 delegates. (Pence had 19, Collin, Baker, and Kaisch all 14, Clarke 6, and Bloomberg 1.) Also following the caucuses Brooks would drop out of the campaign.
On February 29, Michael Bloomberg would drop out the race, and endorse Mike Pence, following the endorsement came a jump in advertising for Pence's campaign.
The March 3rd primaries would take place with Baker soundly winning his home state of Massachusetts, and Vermont, and Collin taking Minnesota.
Following the 3/3 primaries Baker had taken the lead in the delegate count with 54, Pence would drop to second with 36, Collin would have 34, Kasich would have 29, McCarthy 17, and Clarke 8.
On March 4, Clarke would drop out the race and week later he would endorse Pence.
On March 10, the Super Tuesday primaries would take place. Pence would win Kansas, Idaho, Michigan, and Wyoming, Collins would win Maine and Washington DC, and McCarthy would take Kentucky.
This would launch Pence back into the lead with 141 delegates, compared to the remaining candidates of Baker with 105 delegates, Kasich with 71, Collins with 65, and McCarthy with 37.
On March 14, Illinois would go to Pence, despite having 70 delegates, Senator Collin would drop out of the race to focus on running for her senate seat.
On March 17, Pence would win the primaries of Missouri and Ohio. Kasich would only lose his home state by less then 20,000 votes, yet with the state's "winner take all" policy, Pence would win all 66 delegates. Bring Pence to 280 Delegates, with Baker at 127, Kasich at 91, and McCarthy at 37.
Following a recount in his home state, Former Vice President John Kasich would accept the defeat to Governor Pence and end his campaign to the White House. Making the road to the nomination a three man race.
McCarthy would pull the upset victory in the New Mexico Caucasus on April 4. Doubling his delegate count and moving himself past Collin who was no longer running.
Pence would take all 40 delegates in the Utah Primary on April 7, and three days later take all 28 delegates at the North Dakota Unionist Convention. Setting Pence at 373 delegates, with Baker having 147, and McCathy sitting at 74.
Pence would continue his winning streak on April 17 when he win 36 of Wisconsin's 42 Delegates with Baker taking the remaining 6. This would mark Pence holding over half of the delegates up to that point.
On April 28, Pence would close victory in Colorado, but Baker would win soundly in New York, giving the New England Governor's campaign a much needed victory. Moving Pence to 439 delegates, Baker to 255, McCarthy to 74.
On the 29th, McCarthy would suspend his campaign and endorsing Pence the same day. At this points the Unionist National Committee began to fear a contested convention.
On May 2nd. the Acela Primaries would take place with Baker taking Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, but Pence would take upset victories in Pennsylvania and Maryland. So out of the 1110 Delegates, Pence would have 519 and Baker 347.
Governor Baker and Governor Pence during their meeting on May 20, 2020
On May 9th, Pence would take his home state primary of Indiana winning all 57 delegates. He would then take Nebraska on the 12th, and then the Territory of Winfield on the 19th. Out of the 1237 delegates, Pence would hold 642, while Baker sat at 351.
On the May 20th, Unionist Chairwoman Barbara Comstock would meet with Governor Baker, in Portland, Oregon following a one of his campaign event. The day after both Governor Pence and Baker and their campaign leadership would have a 4 hours meeting at the Washington State Unionist Party Headquarters in Bellevue, WA.
Pence in Blue, Baker in Yellow, Kasich in Green, McCarthy in Brown, Collin in Red, Clarke in Purple, Bloomberg in Orange.
On the 21st, only two days before the Oregon and Washington primaries which were polling in his favor, Governor Baker would suspend his campaign and endorse Governor Pence bid for the presidency, giving Mike Pence a clear shot to the nomination. (Although out of the remaining 7 states and 351 delegates, Baker did take 8 of them)
National Convention[]
Other parties and independent candidates[]
Democratic Party[]
Democratic Ballot access by state.
In 2016 the Democratic Party presidential nominee was Mayor Carolyn K. Peterson of Ithaca, New York and her running mate was and Eric Swalwell a City Council Member of Dublin, California. In 2019 both Swalwell and Peterson announced that they would not seek the nomination.
Anothony Brindisi, member of the New York State Assembly since 2011, and the 2020 Democratic Nominee for President.
Independent Senator Sargent Shriver II of Maryland (1993-1999) was the first to announce his candidacy on May 2nd, 2019 but dropped out on January 4th, 2020. Many had thought that former Lieutenant Anthony Brown would seek the nomination, but instead declined saying that " the Democratic party needs to build it's roots, before stretching it's branches to the sun."
During the Primaries the four main candidates were Anthony Brisindi a member of the New York State Assembly since 2011, Jim Costa former California State Senator from 1995-2002, Businessman Rocky De La Fuente, Ben McAdams former Mayor of Salt Lake County Utah (2013-2019), and political satirist Vermin Supreme.
During the Convention Brisindi would win the majority on the third Ballot. Brisindi would choose Costa as his running mate.
Libertarian Party[]
In 2016 the Libertarian presidential nominee was former Unionist New Mexican Governor Gary Johnson and his running mate Rand Paul a former Libertarian nominee for senate, and son of former congressmen Ron Paul the Libertarian nominee for president in 2008 and 2012. Following Johnson's announcement that he would not seek the party's nomination in 2020, Paul became the party's front runner.
Paul was joined by Software engineer, internet personality and podcaster Dan Behrman, Political activist, and former Chair of the LNC (2012-2014) Calvin Broadus Jr., former presiding judge for the Superior Court of Orange County, California Jim Gray, 1996 Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee Jo Jorgensen, anti-war political activist Adam Kokesh, Software engineer and author Sam Robb, and former Vice Chair of the LNC (2014–2018) Arvin Vohra.
Following the Primaries, Paul had received the most votes followed by Broadus, then by Jorgensen.
Libertarian presidential nominee Calvin Broadus Jr. and his wife Shante Broadus during the party's national convention.
Despite his strong showing in the primary, Broadus used his ties in the party leadership to pull himself more delegates and had a great showing at the Libertarian Convention's debate where he blamed Paul and Johnson for the 4th place showing in 2016 presidential race. Saying "Your father had paved the way for us to actually have a shot at the White House, yet Johnson blundered it and as his running mate you should have done something about it." Pual would have a slim lead on the first two ballots, but soon as the field began to narrow in the balloting, Broadus took the lead on the third ballot, and won on the forth.
The Convention selected Adam Kokesh as his running mate.
Broadus and Kokesh were on every state's ballot.
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | Votes | Votes | Votes |
| Calvin Broadus Jr. | 220 | 250 | 301 | 420 |
| Rand Paul | 243 | 252 | 258 | 203 |
| Jo Jorgensen | 124 | 132 | 114 | 72 |
| Jim Gray | 49 | 30 | 17 | 0 |
| Adam Kokesh | 38 | 32 | 6 | 1 |
| Arvin Vohra | 6 | - | - | - |
| None of the Above | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Other | 17 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Totals | 701 | 701 | 701 | 701 |
Results by state[]
| State or District | Chafee (Progressive) | Pence (Unionist) | Broadus (Libertarian) | Brindisi (Democratic) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 California (CA)
|
6,438,507 | 5,771,958 | 415,889 | 278,657 | 13,091,851 |
 Colorado (CO)
|
1,202,484 | 1,338,870 | 144,121 | 38,437 | 2,780,247 |
 Connecticut (CT)
|
897,572 | 673,215 | 48,676 | 22,841 | 1,644,920 |
 Delaware (DE)
|
235,603 | 185,127 | 14,757 | 6,103 | 443,814 |
 Washington (DC)
|
282,830 | 12,723 | 4,906 | 4,258 | 311,268 |
 Idaho (ID)
|
189,765 | 409,055 | 28,331 | 8,496 | 690,255 |
 Illinois (IL)
|
3,090,729 | 2,046,015 | 209,596 | 76,802 | 5,436,424 |
 Indiana (IN)
|
1,033,126 | 1,657,286 | 133,993 | 7,841 | 2,834,958 |
 Iowa (IA)
|
653,669 | 800,983 | 59,186 | 11,479 | 1,566,031 |
 Kansas (KS)
|
427,005 | 671,018 | 55,406 | 23,506 | 1,184,402 |
 Kentucky (KY)
|
628,854 | 1,202,971 | 53,752 | 13,913 | 1,924,149 |
 Maine (ME)
|
335,593 | 357,735 | 38,105 | 14,251 | 747,927 |
 Maryland (MD)
|
1,677,928 | 943,169 | 39,605 | 75,945 | 2,781,446 |
 Massachusetts (MA)
|
1,995,196 | 1,090,893 | 138,018 | 47,661 | 3,325,046 |
 Michigan (MI)
|
2,268,839 | 2,279,543 | 172,136 | 51,463 | 4,799,284 |
 Minnesota (MN)
|
1,067,716 | 1,622,951 | 112,972 | 36,985 | 2,944,813 |
 Missouri (MO)
|
1,071,068 | 1,594,511 | 97,359 | 25,419 | 2,808,605 |
 Montana (MT)
|
177,709 | 279,240 | 28,037 | 7,970 | 497,147 |
 Nebraska (NE)
|
284,494 | 495,961 | 38,946 | 8,775 | 844,227 |
 Nevada (NV)
|
439,260 | 612,058 | 30,084 | 7,300 | 1,125,385 |
 New Hampshire (NH)
|
344,526 | 349,790 | 30,777 | 6,496 | 744,296 |
 New Jersey (NJ)
|
2,148,278 | 1,601,933 | 72,477 | 37,772 | 3,874,046 |
 New Mexico (NM)
|
1,546,401 | 1,572,068 | 180,868 | 44,224 | 3,371,484 |
 New York (NY)
|
3,819,534 | 3,556,124 | 176,598 | 107,934 | 7,721,453 |
 North Dakota (ND)
|
93,758 | 216,794 | 21,434 | 3,780 | 344,360 |
 Ohio (OH)
|
2,394,164 | 2,841,005 | 174,498 | 46,271 | 5,496,487 |
 Oregon (OR)
|
897,012 | 545,119 | 73,361 | 50,002 | 1,638,088 |
 Pennsylvania (PA)
|
2,926,441 | 2,970,733 | 186,715 | 9,941 | 6,165,478 |
 Rhode Island (RI)
|
252,525 | 180,543 | 14,746 | 6,220 | 464,144 |
 South Dakota (SD)
|
117,458 | 227,721 | 20,010 | 840 | 370,093 |
 Taft (TF)
|
420,375 | 949,136 | 80,081 | 3,400 | 1,452,992 |
 Utah (UT)
|
310,676 | 758,921 | 39,608 | 9,438 | 1,131,430 |
 Vermont (VT)
|
178,573 | 95,369 | 10,078 | 6,758 | 315,067 |
 Washington (WA)
|
1,742,718 | 1,221,747 | 160,879 | 58,417 | 3,317,019 |
 Wisconsin (WI)
|
1,382,536 | 1,405,284 | 106,674 | 31,072 | 2,976,150 |
 Wyoming (WY)
|
55,973 | 174,419 | 13,287 | 2,515 | 255,849 |
| Total | 42,608,520 (47.35%) | 41,662,852 (46.30%) | 3,145,885 (3.49%) | 1,189,782 (1.32%) | 89,967,643 |
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