1980 American Federation Election
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The 1980 American Federation election was the first election in the American Federation, held on Monday, November 3rd. 1980. In a close and highly contested election, the Democratic nominee Fob James defeated AIP nominee Governor George Wallace and then Mayor of Birmingham and National Democratic nominee Richard Arrington. This was the first and only free presidential election in the American Federation, and one of only three on the national level, the others being the 1980 Emergency Congressional elections and the 1979 Provisional elections, the latter of which wasn't directly tied to the Federation.
James was the newly sworn in governor of Alabama at the time of the Three Mile Island disaster and collapse of the United States, only getting the nomination because then-incumbent George Wallace was term limited. James' ties (and controversy) with blurring separation of church and state resonated with many who saw the United States and what it stood for as a failure, while Wallace campaigned for Segregation and "States Rights" as he had in previous elections, with Arrington running on the basis of Civil Rights and a return to normal, the latter of which was also preached by James, albeit in a different way.
The election, much like most of the others across the former United States at the time, were chaotic and controversial, with its canidates playing crucial roles in the collapse of the Federations democracy a year later. The contested elections are often cited as a catalyst for, along with protest crackdowns and military failures in Florida, President Fob James' ousting in 1981, with Wallace proclaimed President and Arrington aiding in the establishment of an opposition government in the north. The election has often been compared to the 1860 American Election and the 1932 German Elections.