2044 Reformed States presidential election
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430 members of the Electoral College 216 electoral votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 229,718,834 66.19% (  1.08 pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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  Presidential election results map. red denotes states won by Clarke/Green, and blue denotes those won by Ryan/Sellick. Numbers indicate electoral votes cast by each state and the District of Columbia. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Presidential elections were held in the Reformed States on November 8, 2044. Joseph Clarke, the senior R.S. Senator from Nevada, and Timothy Green, the governor of Alaska, secured victory over the Democratic ticket of Diane Ryan, Minnesota senator and David Sellick, the junior senator from Georgia; independent and incumbent nominees Joe Boldano and Kyle Richmond; and the Forward Party ticket of Jake Marsh, political activist, running alongside former Michigan state senator Zac Hallett.
Boldano's popularity plummeted following the Compromise of 2042, alienating voters from both sides of the political spectrum with what Republicans considered as a break in tradition by letting Washington, D.C. become a state, and with what Democrats saw as a diminishment of Democratic power in the Electoral College. Though he considered dropping out, Boldano ultimately decided to continue his campaign in hopes of acting as a spoiler for the Republican ticket, presenting himself once again as a Third Way candidate and a centrist alternative to the far-right Republicans.
Clarke, a senator from Nevada, made the main focus of his campaign a "return to tradition", emphasizing his background as a small-town mayor and praising the policies of Donald Trump. Having defeated online personality Dani G in the competitive primary, Ryan labelled herself as a "progressive moderate", noting her varying positions on healthcare, guns, and the economy. Ryan chose Sellick, despite his age, to be her running mate, in an attempt to gain swing voters in the Sun Belt; of such states, Ryan only won Sellick's home state of Georgia, a result she would not achieve four years later.
During the campaign, key issues included cybersecurity, rising unemployment, the growing influence of artificial intelligence and deepfakes, and the rising cost of living. Clarke promised an independent American cybernetwork to prevent cyberterrorism in the future, whereas Ryan's campaign focused mainly on foreign policy and establishing diplomatic relations with Free States, as well as rejoining NATO. Polled voters consistently cited cybersecurity as the single most important issue.
Clarke won a plurality of the popular vote, at 44.64%, and carried the Electoral College, winning 304 electoral votes to Ryan's 126. This was the first time an incumbent president running for re-election failed to win a single electoral vote. Clarke performed well in every part of the country, sweeping the Midwestern swing states and winning nearly every state west of the Mississippi River. Boldano's vote splitting is responsible for a competitive election in his home state of New Jersey, where Ryan won 41.1% to Clarke's 40.4%. This was the last election in which Georgia voted for a Democrat. This was the first election in which Delmar voted, and the first of two elections won by Clarke, the second being in 2048.