2012 United States presidential election

The 2012 United States Presidential Election was the 1st 49th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Friday, July 30, 2021 (in real-time) but took place in the RP year 2012. The Republican ticket of newcomer Donald J. Trump and Obi Wan Kenobi defeated the incumbent Democratic president Lee Zeldin and running mate Lux Walker. The election saw the highest (recorded) election turnout in history with 65% of registered voters voting, beat only by the 1980 election. However, there is some speculation that the reason for heightened turnout may derive from the unconfirmed yet widely accepted theory that fraudulent votes were cast by the Green party to allegedly disrupt the Democratic process.

One year prior, President John Smith had committed suicide after suffering from complications related to mental illness. Just a few years prior, President Smith and Vice President Night had a quarrel in which Night accused Smith of attempting to remove him from office, leading to nationwide division and conflicts in the White House.

Vice President Night would have become President after the death of Smith, but he had also committed suicide just days prior to Smith's suicide, prompting some to believe Smith and Night were involved in some conspiracy. However, the position ultimately went into the hands of a one-term Speaker of the House, a young Lee Zeldin from New York who was first elected in 2010, because Smith was unable to nominate a new Vice President in time. Zeldin is related to deceased former President Nelson Rockefeller, who died in the early 2000s and left his estate to his son- Lee Zeldin. Although Nelson Rockefeller was a registered Republican, Lee Zeldin registered as a Democrat and ran under the Democratic Party to represent New York State in the House of Representatives.

Zeldin took the oath office in mid-2011 and became the first sitting Democratic president since 1990, when President Peron resigned and Derek Housinger, an independent, became the President until 1993. Although Zeldin initially did not intend to run for re-election, he later changed his mind and registered to run for re-election as a Democrat, instantly becoming a frontrunner.