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| Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states/districts won by Underwood/Underwood. Red denotes those won by Conway/Brockhart. Numbers indicate electoral votes allotted to the winner of each state. *Ohio and Tennessee were won by Underwood during a rescheduled vote in February 2017. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 2017 contingent U.S. presidential election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| January 19, 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 50 state delegations of the House of Representatives 26 state votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Candidate | Will Conway | Frank Underwood | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| States carried | 25 | <25 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 contingent U.S. vice presidential election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| January 19, 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 100 U.S. Senators 51 votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Candidate | Claire Underwood | Ted Brockhart | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senate vote | >50 | <50 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2016 United States presidential election took place on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Voters turned out to elect the President and the Vice President of the United States.
President Garrett Walker had resigned in 2014 in the wake of his Administration's dealings with Raymond Tusk and Xander Feng regarding money laundering and political contributions, but before doing so, he appointed Frank Underwood as Vice President via the Twenty-fifth Amendment after Jim Matthews resigned to run for his former position as Governor of Pennsylvania to replace the late Peter Russo as the Democratic nominee. Underwood was thus the second sitting President who had never been elected to national office. Saddled with Congressional leadership that had expressed their distaste for him, Underwood first faced serious opposition from within his own party. Despite initially announcing that he would not run for reelection due to the lack of support from the Democratic Congressional leadership, Underwood reneged on his promise to not run in 2016 after having unsuccessfully advocated for America Works in Congress. He was challenged for the Democratic Party's nomination by both former Solicitor General and special prosecutor Heather Dunbar and House Majority Whip Jackie Sharp. He eventually secured the nomination, and the contested 2016 Democratic National Convention selected First Lady Claire Underwood to be his running mate. On the Republican side, New York Governor Will Conway selected general Ted Brockhart to be his running mate.
Terrorism became a primary issue on the campaign following the development of Islamic Caliphate Organization and the hostage crisis involving the Miller family. On October 19, Underwood addressed the nation to announce his intention to declare war on ICO. He also used exaggerated terror threats and questionable intel as a guise to enact martial law in swing states during the 2016 presidential campaign. On Election Day, Underwood pressured the governors of Ohio and Tennessee to suspend their voting. Neither candidate received a majority of the electoral vote as both states refused to certify their votes.
The House and Senate held a simultaneous vote to select the president on January 19, 2017. Neither Conway and Frank Underwood received a majority in the House election, whereas the Senate elected Claire Underwood vice president. She became acting president the following day. With the approval of both the Conway and Underwood campaigns, Congress allowed new elections to occur in Tennessee and Ohio on February 13. The Underwoods were elected and Frank was sworn-in on February 17. His second term would last only four weeks.
Democratic Party[]
| Democratic party ticket, 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Francis Underwood | Claire Underwood | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 46th President of the United States (2014–2017) |
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2015) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Candidates[]
- Frank Underwood, 46th President of the United States 2014-2017; Vice President of the United States 2013-2014; House Majority Whip 2005-2013; U.S. Representative from South Carolina's 5th congressional district 1991-2013
Withdrawn candidates[]
- Heather Dunbar, former U.S. Solicitor General; former special prosecutor to investigate the Walker Administration's dealings with Raymond Tusk and Xander Feng regarding money laundering and political contributions (withdrew in Chapter 46)
- Jackie Sharp, Assistant House Minority Whip 2015-present; House Majority Whip 2013-2015; U.S. Representative from California's 5th congressional district 2009-present (withdrew in Chapter 37, endorsed Heather Dunbar)
Assistant House Minority Whip Jackie Sharp of California (withdrawn)
Republican Party[]
| Republican party ticket, 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Will Conway | Ted Brockhart | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Governor of New York (2013–2017) |
U.S. Military General | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hector Mendoza, U.S. Senator from Arizona and Senate Majority Leader, was named as a strong contender for the Republican nomination in the 2016 election for President of the United States by Bob Birch, but neither Birch nor Mendoza would confirm or deny this to Underwood. Mendoza later resigned amidst a scandal of accepting undeclared payments for speeches and was replaced as Senate Majority Leader by Senator Henry Mitchell.
In May 2015, Governor Will Conway of New York formally announced his candidacy, and in the following months gained 30 points among GOP primary voters (beginning his candidacy with 18 percent support), with 48 percent support shortly after (his presumed win in) the Iowa caucuses. Conway later clinched the nomination and chose General Ted Brockhart as his running mate.
General Election[]
On Election Day, voter turnout was 30% lower than the previous presidential election due to a false sense of fear popularized by the Underwood administration.The Underwood ticket received the plurality of the electoral vote, where as the Conway ticket won the popular vote, but no candidate received the necessary 270 electoral votes required by the Constitution to be elected President due to two states, Tennessee and Ohio, having refused to certify their election results. As Conway was closing in on winning the election after Pennsylvania was called in his favor, President Underwood publicly called Conway to concede the election to look innocent, but secretly used NSA employee Aiden Macallan to create false evidence of threats on voting centers in Tennessee and Ohio to stop those states' from continuing their vote and ultimately suspending the entire election.
Based on the Twelfth Amendment, the election for President was to be decided by the House of Representatives between the top two candidates: Underwood and New York Governor Will Conway of the Republican Party (and the election for Vice President, between Claire Underwood and General Ted Brockhart, by the Senate). But, after neither Underwood nor Conway obtained a majority of 26 votes, and with Claire Underwood having succeeded in winning the Senate vote, newly sworn-in Vice President Claire Underwood began serving as Acting President immediately upon taking office, serving until a President could be elected.
Eventually, a full revote in the two contested states of Tennessee and Ohio, rather than proceeding with the vote in the House of Representatives, was called for by Congress. The Underwood ticket then secured victory via winning the revote, having been aided by the release of inappropriate dual audio recordings of the opposing ticket. With Underwood elected President, he was inaugurated soon after. Frank Underwood is the first Democrat to lose the popular vote, but win the electoral college.
On March 15, 2017, amid scandal, President Francis J. Underwood resigned the office of President of the United States. Vice President, First Lady, and Former Acting President of the United States, Claire Hale Underwood, was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States, with seemingly no intent on pardoning President Francis Underwood for his crimes.