Alternate Electoral Maps III

[TimTurner]

Y=Yankee SP=Southern People's N=National SL=Social Liberal G=Greens FL=Farmer-Labor F=Freedom

ME: 2 Y, 1 SL, 1 F
NH: 2 Y, 1 FL, 1 F
MA: 6 Y, 2 SL, 1 N, 1 G, 1 FL
RI: 2 Y, 1 N, 1 FL
VT: 2 Y, 1 FL
CT: 4 Y, 1 N, 1 SL, 1 FL
NY: 11 N, 8 SL, 5 FL, 3 F, 2 G
NJ: 5 N, 4 SL, 3 FL, 1 G, 1 F
PA: 6 N, 5 SL, 5 FL, 3 F, 1 G
Northeast: 25 N, 21 SL, 18 FL, 18 Y, 9 F, 5 G

DE: 1 SP, 1 N, 1 SL
MD: 3 SP, 2 N, 2 SL, 2 FL, 1 F
DC: 1 N, 1 SL, 1 FL
VA: 5 SP, 3 SL, 2 N, 2 FL, 1 F
NC: 5 SP, 3 SL, 2 N, 2 FL, 1 F
WV: 3 SP, 1 N, 1 FL
SC: 5 SP, 2 SL, 1 FL, 1 F
GA: 9 SP, 2 N, 2 FL, 1 SL, 1 G, 1 F
FL: 8 SP, 6 SL, 5 N, 5 FL, 3 F, 2 G
KY: 4 SP, 1 N, 1 SL, 1 FL, 1 F
TN: 6 SP, 2 SL, 1 N, 1 FL, 1 F
AL: 6 SP, 1 N, 1 SL, 1 F
MS: 4 SP, 1 N, 1 F
AR: 3 SP, 1 N, 1 SL, 1 F
LA: 5 SP, 1 N, 1 SL, 1 F
OK: 4 SP, 1 N, 1 SL, 1 F
TX: 17 SP, 6 SL, 6 F, 4 N, 3 FL, 2 G
South: 90 SP, 32 SL, 27 N, 21 FL, 21 F, 5 G

OH: 6 N, 5 FL, 4 SL, 2 F, 1 G
MI: 5 N, 5 FL, 4 SL, 1 G, 1 F
IN: 4 FL, 3 N, 2 SL, 2 F
WI: 3 N, 3 FL, 2 SL, 2F
IL: 6 FL, 5 N, 5 SL, 2 G, 2 F
MN: 5 FL, 2 N, 2 F, 1 SL
IA: 2 N, 2 FL, 1 SL, 1 F
MO: 3 FL, 2 SP, 2 N, 2 F, 1 SL
ND: 1 N, 1 FL, 1 F
SD: 1 SL, 1 FL, 1 F
NE: 2 SL, 1 N, 1 FL, 1 F
KS: 2 N, 2 FL, 1 SL, 1 F
Midwest: 41 FL, 35 N, 27 SL, 20 F, 4 G, 3 SP

MT: 1 SL, 1 FL, 1 F
WY: 2 F, 1 SL
CO: 3 SL, 2 FL, 2 F, 1 N, 1 G
NM: 2 SL, 1 N, 1 FL, 1 F
ID: 2 F, 1 N, 1 SL
UT: 3 N, 1 SL, 1 FL, 1 F
AZ: 4 F, 2 N, 2 SL, 2 FL, 1 G
NV: 2 FL, 2 F, 1 N, 1 SL
WA: 4 SL, 3 FL, 2 N, 2 F, 1 G
OR: 3 SL, 2 FL, 1 N, 1 F
CA: 18 SL, 13 N, 12 FL, 8 F, 4 G
AK: 1 N, 1 FL, 1 F
HI: 2 FL, 1 N, 1 SL
West: 39 SL, 30 FL, 28 N, 27 F, 7 G

Party bases
Yankee: New England; centrist
Southern People's: the South, broadly, and only runs in the Census South (and Missouri). Explicitly campaigns as a non-national party. South big tent, majorities of both whites and blacks; centrist, tilting right (slightly)
National: fiscally conservative well-off suburbanites, non-Southern conservatives generally, many union members, many social conservatives; center-right
Social Liberal: fiscally conservative well-off suburbanites, many leftists, quite a few center-leftists, social liberals; center-left
Greens: environmentalists, uber-social liberals, anti-establishment leftists; left-wing
Solidarity and Justice Farmer-Labor: most union members, farmers, "labor aristocracy", about half of Minnesotans, many leftists, social conservatives with left-of-center economic views; center-left
Freedom: anti-government regulations, libertarians, right-wingers who think National isn't conservative enough, socially liberal left-wingers who think the Social Liberals and particularly Farmer-Labor are too establishment; center-right

 

[kafve6]

1964
Barry Goldwater/Clara Boothe Luce (Republican&States' Rights/Republican)
John F. Kennedy/Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic)

1968
Nelson Rockefeller/George HW. Bush (Republican)
Eugene McCarthy/Philip Hart (Democratic)
George Wallace/Ezra Taft Benson (American Indepentdent)

1972
Henry Jackson/Albert Brewer (Democratic)
George HW. Bush/Robert P. Griffin (Republican)

1976
Henry Jackson/Albert Brewer (Democratic)
Ronald Reagan/Charles Percy (Republican)

1980
Ronald Reagan/Thad Cochran (Republican)
Albert Brewer/Walter Mondale (Democratic)
Mike Gravel/Allard K. Lowenstein (Liberty)

1984
Ronald Reagan/Thad Cochran (Republican)
Tom Hayden/Robert Byrd (Democratic)

1988
George Mitchell/William Winter (Democratic)
Don Riegle/Trent Lott (Republican)
Warren Beatty/Ray Metcalfe (Liberty)
David Duke/Bo Gritz (American Indepentdent)

1992
Edwin Edwards/James Traficant
Ted Bundy/Caroll A. Campbell Jr. (Republican)
Jerry Brown/John H. Sununu (Moonbeam/Liberty&Moonbeam)

 

[X_X]

Basically a conspiracy is revealed that the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy was a hit ordered by Richard Nixon. When this news comes out, the president instantly resigns and fringe primary challenger John M. Ashbrook is selected as the nominee. He picks Bill Brock as his running mate.

Meanwhile, George McGovern chooses Ruebin Askew and easily cruises to victory as the result of widespread hatred of the Republicans.

 

[TimTurner]

Starting post

Arkansas has been dominated by the Southern People's Party for many decades, though National comes in a respectable second place. Southern People's does best along the Mississippi river and in the southern part of the state, and does worst in relatively urban Northwest Arkansas. There is a respectable black vote for the Social Liberals, but it is far from enough for them to win pluralities. Freedom is the main party in most rural areas. In some places it also benefits from tactical voting; in Carroll County (home to the gay town of Eureka Springs), many social liberals (who usually voted for Social Liberals in national elections) vote for Freedom as they were more socially liberal than the Southern People's Party, allowing them to safely come in a good second place. National does well in many exurbs of Little Rock, but ultimately the Southern People's Party wastes practically no votes (unlike their opponents) and this usually makes them a safe bet for them to win a majority.

Thought this would be a fun place to start.

I am now taking requests for which states to do next.

 

[prime-minister]

Starting post
Thought this would be a fun place to start.
I am now taking requests for which states to do next.

How about Missouri? I'm curious how it being plurality Farmer-Labor looks on the electoral map.

 

[TimTurner]

How about Missouri? I'm curious how it being plurality Farmer-Labor looks on the electoral map.

Will post the next maps in batches of three. In the meantime I've added vote share to the Arkansas map. In general, with the rural Midwest, expect Farmer-Labor to outperform in seats due to winning small-magnitude rural districts (Iowa will be a stark visualization of this).

 

[Temeraire]

Starting post
View attachment 851644
Thought this would be a fun place to start.
I am now taking requests for which states to do next.

I'm always happy to see more electoral maps of Nebraska!

 

[TimTurner]

Starting post
Arkansas

Iowa is, for obvious reasons, a strong place for Farmer-Labor. Like the pre-mid-2010s Democrats though, they tend to get weaker and weaker the farther west you get. It is weakest in quite socially liberal Johnson County (where in bad years it faces the risk of getting no seats at all), with it demographics being very friendly to the Greens. It is quite strong in industrial areas along the river, but in general it does not poll very well in big urban counties. Nonetheless, Farmer-Labor does very well in the single-member districts, which are generally quite favorable to them and waste a lot of non-Farmer-Labor votes (similar dynamics to those that happen in Arkansas, only the base vote of the "dominant party" is bigger). And these low-magnitude districts allow it to win majorities on mid-to-high 30s of the total vote. Proposals by some reformists to reform what some critics call the "first-past-the-past proportional" district system helped build a strong backlash in the polls that gave Farmer-Labor a majority.

Missouri, such a deeply divided state geographically. The Southern People's Party has long been influential and has been in government for longer than any other party. The areas of the state that are most Southern in character tend to vote most strongly for it, but it has a large enough vote to get elected in Saint Louis County's 34-member district (with its low threshold). Farmer-Labor wins most rural areas. It also does well as Saint Louis City (something that reflects its strength in the black vote). It has very few wasted votes due to the low effective threshold in urban counties. National saw lots of wasted votes due to its coalition being urban but not urban enough for it to avoid having tons of wasted votes in rural seats it has difficulty winning. By contrast, the Social Liberals have very little of a rural vote and get almost as much seats despite getting almost half as many votes as them. Freedom is competitive in the northern rural areas and does well in exurban areas around Kansas City as well. Over half of both the Social Liberal and Green elected members were from the Saint Louis metropolitan area. The geographic advantage of Farmer-Labor, the weakness of Freedom, and the inability of the Nationals and Social Liberals to do well enough in rural Missouri paved the way for a Farmer-Labor and Southern People's administration to come in, winning a small but clear majority (103/201) on a near-majority of the popular vote. It is unusual that Farmer-Labor not win a plurality, and often it is a considerable one.

Nebraska is effectively divided into three zones. The pasture area, which generally votes for Freedom (it is among the most anti-government areas, after all), but Farmer-Labor does well too due to its status as a party for farmers and agriculture. This is roughly 8, 9, or at most 11 seats depending on definition. The farming area, which is basically everything else except the big urban counties and dense suburbs. This is about 43 or 44 seats perhaps almost exactly one-third of the state. Many add Hall County in there, which would increase it to 48. Farmer-Labor dominates this area and this is a place where Farmer-Labor is competitive at at least winning one seat in every constituency. It is weakest in Platte County (a 2-seater) where the Nationals are locally strong and the Social Liberals, whose live-and-let-live social liberalism has substantial popularity among many voters, are quite able to nab the last seat. Finally, there is the urban zone, usually defined as being composed of Douglas, Platte, and Lancaster counties, who together hold the majority of the entire state population and of the seats as well (72 out of 131). Here, the Social Liberals are the majority, as opposed to a minority casting a lot of wasted votes in single-member districts. Omaha voted strongly for the Social Liberals, and Lincoln gave them close to a near-majority. But Farmer-Labor still gets some seats here. This dynamic allowed the Farmer-Labor party to reclaim a plurality in 2023 and defeat the reformist Social Liberal premier Stacy Ryan, though the parliamentary arithmetic forced them to form government with them anyway (the Greens and Freedom are both judged as being prickly as coalition partners, a fact reinforced by the fall of a Social Liberal-Freedom coalition government earlier on in the decade for fairly obvious reasons in 2021). Stacy Ryan being kind of conservative, she made a deal with the National party that allowed the parliament to continue until it reached its full 5 year term, but she was unable to do well enough to remain in power after the next election.

P.S. Added a little blurb for Arkansas too. Please read that too!

 

[TimTurner]

Starting post
AR
MO, IA, and NE

Delaware has among the lowest ratios of people-per-member in the Eastern Seaboard, at 10,000 per member. Its high district magnitude means that each of the five parties only infrequently fail to get a member elected in every district. After the 2020 census, Sussex County is given twenty-four members, Kent has eighteen, and New Castle (home to a majority of the state population) elects fifty-seven. The main cleavage in the state is north to south. The Southern People's party does very well in the South and does worse and worse the more north you get (as Southern identity weakens). It often tops the polls in Sussex and finishes last in New Castle. The Social Liberals are the opposite, with their vote, if anything, even more concentrated in their strongholds. The overwhelming majority of their vote comes from New Castle County and the majority of their elected members have come from there for as long as many can remember. The National party polls roughly equally everywhere, as does the Freedom party. The Greens are a New Castle County party to a lesser extent than the Social Liberals, but still qualify. Before voting in October 2021 a "pure liberal coalition" (Social Liberals+Freedom) governed the state, but both the Social Liberals and Freedom lost a fair number of votes and the arithmetic for it being simply continued didn't work. The simplest coalition to make was a Social Liberal-Southern People's one, and this was the only two-party coalition that could form a majority. As Patricia Blevins had a rapport with the leader of the Southern People's Party (they had gone to the same elementary school and entered politics at roughly the same time), it was in fact easy to do and it was practically a done deal as soon as the dust settled.

Nevada is dominated by Clark County (98 members), with Washoe (21 members) being a majority of the rest. Nevada is a union stronghold. If Iowa represents the "Farmer" side of Farmer-Labor very well, Nevada represents the "Labor" side of it equally well, and Nevada laws are among the most favorable to unions in the country, giving it the highest unionization rate in the nation. While all five parties have a base in the state, and Clark County is among the largest electoral districts anywhere in the country in terms of magnitude (creating a Delaware-type dynamic with an even lower threshold), Farmer-Labor's strong base in Clark County ensures they stay in the top two. National is strongest inurban Northern Nevada outside of Washoe, and Freedom dominates rural Nevada. Rural Nevada sees absolute majorities for Freedom, with the other three parties besides the Greens usually taking a distant second place almost randomly, with often around 10% or so percent of the vote or a bit higher than that. Ross Miller, a young leader within Farmer-Labor, was elected Premier after the 2013 election, succeeding the retiring Brian Sandoval. At the time he was the youngest premier in the entire country. He was re-elected in 2016. In early 2020 he retired, and Freedom indicated they wanted fresh elections. These ensued in July 2020, and Freedom was able to cobble together a "expanded liberal coalition" (Social Liberal+Freedom+whatever was needed for a majority). A major Freedom Party leader James Oscarson was named Premier; he was chosen thanks to his close relationship with key figures in the other coalition parties.

New York has a legislature of 269 members, a rather large number, mainly to preserve as many one-county rural constituencies as possible but also to further lower district thresholds in New York City. The largest constituency (Kings County) elects 36 members. The government is most often headed by the National party, which is perfectly suited to the state, and is usually the biggest party. The National party is broadly strong in most parts of the state, with a few exceptions. It does fairly well in Long Island, where it does especially well among union households (which it usually splits evenly with the Farmer-Labor party). The Social Liberals are a mix of establishment and progressive and are fairly antagonistic to the specific policy mix the Nationals usually stand for, but they still will form coalitions. The Greens are most opposed to the Nationals, being an insurgent party diametrically opposed to them on most issues. Patty Ritchie is a popular figure statewide, though polarizing. She is especially popular among most Upstate New Yorkers; she is one of their own, having grown up in small-town Northcountry New York. She is one of two people to represent the Lawrence-Lewis constituency, and is locally invincible electorally (her personal vote overwhelming the generally pro-Farmer-Labor lean of her constituency and that of her colleague Darrel Aubertine).

In terms of political geography, a large number of members are elected from New York City; of these, Farmer-Labor does well in the Bronx (thanks to its strength among the northern black vote and respectable vote among Latinos), the Social Liberals dominate Manhattan (they fit it perfectly), and they also win strongly in Queens (thanks to its strength among the Asian vote and urban progressives). Brooklyn is more competitive. They do worst in Richmond County (Staten Island) where Farmer-Labor and National do better. One moment of levity from the 2021 campaign came from Ritchie shooting an ad showing her working with her namesake in Delaware on an issue of relevance to the state with the slogan being "Vote for Patty on June 29th. If she can work with fellow Pattys from other parties, she can work with anyone". Following the election, she formed government with the Farmer-Labor party, dumping the Social Liberals (who had growing political disagreements with the Nationals and had grown increasingly oppositional to her over time). Farmer-Labor's relatively easy position (standing for pro-agriculture and pro-labor policies) also made them significantly easier to work with. Since the formation of the coalition government, the two parties have worked very well with each other and the Social Liberals have fallen into vicious infighting, making their return to government looking more remote by the year.

 

[TimTurner]

Starting post
AR
MO, IA, and NE
DE, NY, and NV

Alaska's three strongest parties were Farmer-Labor (which represented the interests of agriculture and labor), Freedom (which represented the interests of the especially libertarian part of the state), and the Nationals (which represented the interests of business and labor). When National and Farmer-Labor were together in government, then it was called a "union coalition" (or, more playfully, union union) seeing as it combined two parties with significant backing among organized labor. This is the most often kind of government the state has had, but personality clashes among leaders within the parties have made it less attractive in the late 2010s and resulted in governments ridden with infighting. When the legislature's term met its five year limit in 2023, there was little appetite for such a coalition again. In the elections that followed, the state's political geography asserted itself once again. Farmer-Labor dominated the coastal remote areas, while Freedom dominated the inland remote areas and wealthier exurbs, and the National party did best in the urban centers, winning in Fairbanks and Anchorage. The personal vote of Louise Hayman holds down union-dominated Chugash for the National Party, despite the area's long-standing competitive nature (with Freedom, Farmer-Labor, and the Nationals practically taking turns topping the polls within it in national elections). The Panhandle is competitive for the Social Liberals, with Juneau in particular leaning towards them, and the Greens being very unusually strong there. Despite tensions within the governing coalition, Farmer-Labor Premier Reggie Joule remained decently popular statewide and the Social Liberals and Greens, eager to get into government, gave him another term. Farmer-Labor benefited from having a good hold on the remote areas; their plurality in seat tally allowed them to place first statewide despite losing in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Georgia was a Southern People's stronghold, and the largest state where they had a basically certain hold on government. "The Empire State of the South" was increasingly becoming a bit more competitive though, due to the growth in Metro Atlanta (some even speculated that the election was called in 2020 to get ahead of impending 2020 census results having to give more representation to growing Atlanta metro counties) where the party was weaker). Districts used by 2020 were a decade old and this had some effects in denying the Social Liberals some seats; the Social Liberals are a rather urban party with marginal popularity in rural Georgia and with only a notable minority of the black vote behind it. It was an informal custom in the Deep South branches of the Southern People's party to alternate between black and white premiers, as the party's voter base was generally 60% white 40% black. Nathan Deal announced his retirement (he had been eyeing leaving politics for a while) and the party named ex-Atlanta Falcons player and Minister for Culture and Sport, Bob Whitfield, as his successor. In the elections that were held on the same day as the national general election, Southern People's won 63% of the seats on 55% of the vote, with their scattered opponents wasting votes in the vast swathes of rural Georgia where the party was stronger. Freedom finished second in most of rural Georgia but won hardly any seats there; Nationals ran up the margins in the place it did win a plurality in but they ran even in seat tally anyway; and the Social Liberals did decently in the coast but not by enough to feel very happy with its results. But the Southern People's party did not too shabbily in urban Northern Georgia, all things considered. They only lost Gwinnett due to it being dominated by Northern migrants, and they won pluralities in DeKalb and Fulton over all other parties. The results in Georgia confirmed yet another landslide victory for the Southern People's party, in an election with an outcome never really in doubt.

New Hampshire in many ways was opposite to Georgia. If Georgia was in Dixie, New Hampshire was in Yankeedom. And it was controlled by the Yankee party with considerable firmness, as firmly as the Southern People's controlled Georgia. The state itself was jokingly called "the State of Sununu" in reference to the Sununu family which had long had a major role in the state's politics and has held the Premier's office for most of the state's entire history. There was little sign voters were tiring of the Sununu name and the election in 2021 confirmed yet another term of Yankee (and Sununu) governance. As for the elections themselves, the arrangements of the elections of the legislature were themselves engineered to ensure Yankee dominance, with a push towards creating as many one-member seats as was feasible and a treating of towns as unsplittable building blocks for the purpose of drawing electoral districts. There were 78 single-member districts, most of which returned Yankee members with ease in most elections. Thus it was extremely likely for the party to win majorities on as low as 45% or 44% of the vote. Anti-Yankee voters turned to tactical voting, with many responding to these moves from the ruling party by voting for either the Freedom party or the Farmer-Labor party, the former befitting the state's libertarian tradition, the latter reflecting the agricultural and labor tradition in it. The former is generally preferred by people on the right, the latter generally by those on the left, though these correlations are weak. The Freedom party does very well in the North thanks to its utter remoteness. Also within that area is Dixville Notch, famous for being the first place in the country to close the polls, usually a few minutes after midnight. In large multi-member districts (such as Nashua with 23 members or Manchester with 29 members) voting operates normally; usually all parties win seats. Nonetheless, the strength of the Yankee party is immense and wins them election after election. The Nationals, though not second in most of the state, does do relatively well in areas close to Boston and here it generally wins a member or two in many districts. While it has long been talked about, a potential united front, in the end the Yankee party is too entrenched and the opposition too divided among itself for them to unite with optimal efficiency. Which gives the state Yankee government by default; in 2021 the Yankee party won an identical share of the seats that the Southern People's won in Georgia one year earlier. Perhaps as a consolation prize though, Farmer-Labor won a plurality of the state's border with Vermont.

 

[Devoid]

1964 but the prediction that LBJ wins everything except Mississippi and Alabama (where Johnson gets on the ballot due to the early formation of the National Democratic Party of Alabama) is true:
By state:

And by county:

 

[TimTurner]

Starting post
AR
MO, IA, and NE
DE, NY, and NV
AK, GA, and NH

West Virginia is one of the rare places where Farmer-Labor and the Southern People's party compete with each other for power in a mostly two-party system. What distinguishes the two parties is not ideology (they run the state practically the same way, in a quasi-corporatist consensus style that has ruled in the state since what feels like time immemorial) but rather, interest groups that elect them. Farmer-Labor does well in heavily labor areas in the coalfields southern part of the state, and in northern Panhandle, not wealthy and very working-class in DNA. National does well in the eastern Panhandle, which is wealthier as a whole. Southern People's has some popularity in all parts of the state, but this popularity varies considerably and is strongest in the central, non-coalfields core. It is usual for smaller parties to back Farmer-Labor for government. With the popularity of the Southern People's party statewide in state-level general elections (notwithstanding many voters regularly voting Southern People's on national level and Farmer-Labor for state level), Southern People's still has government perhaps even a majority of the time. One of the regular changes of government in the state took place in 2018, and with Southern People's making surprising gains in the coalfields (a longtime Farmer-Labor stronghold because of its poverty and also its relative union density), they were able to cobble together a majority to themselves. Speculation this marked perhaps the death of Farmer-Labor as a strong party in the state have not aged well as Farmer-Labor is currently leading in the polls and is set to win the next election convincingly even as a majority of people in the state continue to prefer to back the Southern People's party in any general election (in 2020 they did poll about 55.92% of the total vote in the state). Premier Jeff Kessler is reportedly delaying the election until the last possible minute; it will be possible for the elections to be held in very early 2024...

Rhode Island is practically always governed by the Yankee Party, the main question is whether it is with a plurality as part of a coalition government. Positive parliamentarism combined with a very internally divided opposition unused to uniting in its entirety means that the Yankee party forms a single party government if they win a majority or they form a coalition if they win a mere plurality. Generally, the Yankee party polls best in the interior parts of Rhode Island, Farmer-Labor the best in coastal areas and northern parts of the Providence metro, the Nationals in southern (and generally richer) parts of the Providence metro, the Social Liberals in the city of Providence as well as the counties of Bristol and Newport, and the Greens in the big cities generally. The government as the 2020s started was led by Nicholas Mattiello, a longtime leader in the party and Premier since 2011, in an uneasy relationship with the Social Liberals. Mattiello was a rather conservative figure, though he also had pro-labor sympathies, a common political combination in Little Rhody.

The relationship between the two parties had deteriorated since they formed government and the straw that broke the camel's back was the controversy over the state's formal name, the changing of which was a longstanding goal of Social Liberal Deputy Premier Thomas Palangio. The Social Liberals agitated for change of it, and Yankee party leaders didn't care much either way, but already hated having to tolerate them altogether after a mere 18 months governing with them. They felt they could frame the Social Liberals as dragging the country to the polls over their pet issues at the public expense. Mattiello denied them any ground on the issue and let them blow up the government. Mattiello then accused them of being unserious about governing responsibly, a winning message to most voters who were not hugely driven by the Social Liberals' means of thinking. In the end, the Social Liberals actually gained seats and votes, but they were evicted from government as swing voters lined up behind the Yankee party to give them a majority government for sake of stability.

Michigan is a state that usually has the top three parties (Social Liberal, National, and Farmer-Labor) close in votes and fairly close in seats. In Michigan, Farmer-Labor most often wins a majority of the state's land area (Finns and farmers in the north are especially strongly supportive of the party). The Nationals do best in Western Michigan, where they even win the farming vote. The Social Liberals generally do best in college educated areas and socially liberal areas like Lansing, as well as urban voters more generally. White working class Macomb County votes for the Nationals, more college educated and wealthier Oakland County votes for the Social Liberals, and more non-white and union-dominated Wayne County votes for Farmer-Labor. Conversely, the Social Liberals tend to finish last in Macomb, Farmer-Labor tends to finish last in Oakland, and National tends to finish last in Wayne. Of the three, statewide, the Farmer-Labor party has the least wasted votes and the Social Liberals the most, something that means the Social Liberals need to get big pluralities in the overall statewide total to actually get the highest number of seats in total.

National and Farmer-Labor together act as pro-union or at least not anti-union parties. Before 2022 Farmer-Labor and the Social Liberals were together in government under John Cherry, a man of considerable influence in the unions (in what was called an orange coalition "yellow+red"). Controversy over a union election in one of the most important unions that backed Farmer-Labor (with thus far unproven allegations of union corruption on part of the premier himself) caused the Social Liberals and Nationals to team up and exclude Farmer-Labor from government. Despite their decisive role in changing the Premier, though, the Social Liberals found themselves largely blocked from changing things much in the new government. There are already rumblings that the coalition might collapse in the near future, though both parties feel that they would be mutual losers in the case of a fresh election.

 

[NeonHydroxide]

The Galactic Election of 1016-7, as published in the Galactic Times of Alarosa

The Mid Rim world of Alarosa is far, far away from the glittering lights and political drama of Coruscant. Its distance from well-charted hyperspace routes and its magnetosphere's hostility to non-hardened electronics make it a backwater even among backwaters in its region. Its sole claim to galactic fame is a hometown hero who died as an engineer onboard a frigate of Admiral Ackbar's fleet at the battle of Endor ('even shook his fin once, he did!' the locals will claim).

But this doesn't mean the residents don't take an interest in galactic politics; indeed, their local form of backslapping retail democracy gives each citizen a strong and healthy belief that they ought to know what the Senators down in the Core are up to, even if they only find out about it once printed newspapers come in from the planet's Imperial-era only functioning Holonet terminal in the capital. This is just such a broadsheet, delivered to residents across the planet only two months after the final election took place on the Senate floor.

 

[TimTurner]

Starting post
AR
MO, IA, and NE
DE, NY, and NV
AK, GA, and NH
WV, RI, and MI

Montana is one of two Farmer-Labor quasi-strongholds in the Interior West (the other being Nevada). This is the result of the state having a strong farming presence, and also partially because the Social Liberals (who cannot be called pro-union as a whole) being weaker there. Farmer-Labor at least leads in (most) farming areas and some very labor kind of places, and polls respectably well in urban centers everywhere in the state. The Freedom party does strongly in the rural western parts of the state and in mid-size cities in Eastern Montana (such as Great Falls), and also polls respectably well in urban centers everywhere in the state. The Social Liberals have enough votes in urban centers to win by large margins in Missoula and Bozeman over all other individual parties, but poll poorly elsewhere and have a lot of wasted votes that don't result in seats. In national and state elections, it is a tossup between these three who will finish first, and the honor of first place hops around form party to party. The state in the nationwide parliamentary elections has been returning 1 member for each of these three parties very regularly since the 1990s.

Montana getting a fourth member after 2021 means that the Nationals will likely get a fourth member elected. The state's National party is fundamentally a fairly urban party (compared to the Freedom party that is generally more rural than urban) and most often wins in Yellowstone County (home to Billings) and Flathead County (home to Kalispell). It is the most pro-fossil fuel party (with a very strong stance in favor of hydraulic fracking) and has a horrid relationship with the Greens. However, they are too "big town" for rural voters and while they do get votes there, they have as many wasted votes as the Social Liberals. The Nationals also have a reputation for being "corporate", in a not-good way. And the Greens, their arch-enemy, poll decently well in many urban centers in the state as well by minor party standards. In any case, under Frederick Moore, a capable farmer and politician, Farmer-Labor has had a stable alliance going between the two parties, helming what is called a "rural coalition" (given it pairs two parties that together dominate the rural vote).

New Mexico is one of the firmest Social Liberal strongholds in the country outside of the Pacific Northwest. This is due to their domination of the Albuquerque metropolitan area. Bernalillo County alone elects 44 members, and has a high Social Liberal vote. Still, even in New Mexico the urban nature of its vote comes shining through. Doña Ana County (home to Las Cruces, 14 members) is a place where it is competitive for first place in votes, and it also polls rather well in Santa Fe County (10 seats) and Sandoval-Los Alamos (also 10 seats). Its performance in these areas is good enough to essentially guarantee them a plurality, but not so overwhelmingly good that they can hope to win majorities. The Nationals do well in Little Texas, where they run up the score in urban centers such as Hobbs, Clovis, Alamogordo, and Lea and also sport a higher-than-normal rural vote. Farmer-Labor polls well among more socially conservative Latinos and others in rural areas; together with Freedom they mostly dominate the "remote" vote.

The Social Liberals in fact have a lot of wasted votes in these places, and a poor vote-to-seat ratio overall on a statewide level, which helps all other parties. In 2019, the Social Liberals won almost 40% of the vote, but the uneven nature of their vote meant that they only took a third of the seats. This opens more room for other parties to form government, excluding them. This is exactly what happened in 2015, when Freedom, National, and Farmer-Labor joined together. Debbie Rodella, a seasoned politician, led the coalition and remained in power, surviving issues such as her husband being convicted of multiple violations of the law (and going to prison) and discontent within many sections of the Freedom party over her govrnment's policies. In 2019, the Social Liberals were finally able to form government again, forming an "urban coalition" with the Nationals. Policy has not changed much since the Rodella government...and Gary King has had to compromise a lot on what he campaigned on in 2019 to get the Nationals to support him. Still, many people reason, it is better than Rodella going back into power again (she still leads the Farmer-Labor party in the state).

North Carolina is a strong state for the Southern People's party, or at least retains that reputation. But it is actually one of the weaker Southern states for them. The sheer number of people coming into the state and the vibrancy of national parties' state-level branches gives them more of a challenge and indirectly lowers their total vote. Despite this, the Southern People's party does usually win majorities, largely because of smaller seat magnitudes, lack of opposition coordination, and good support patterns. The 2020 census threatened to upset the apple cart, as it gave the areas the Southern People's party did worst in (urban counties such as Wake, Durham, Orange, and Mecklenburg) particularly large increases in representation, directly aiding the Social Liberals in particular. Speculation was rife this would finally bring down the Southern People's party majority and force them to make a deal with an opposition party or even face a united opposition coalition government, but it was to no avail. Margaret Dickson's native-daughter effect aided her in the general Sandhills area (saving some members who were in danger if the party suffered a swing against it) and her small-town appeal, still strong many years after she had become premier in 2009, helped save the party in multiple regions. Dickson, 75 years old as of August 2023, continues in her post as one of the longest-tenured Premiers in the country, with her moderate brand serving as both good glue for the party as a whole, and good electoral branding. And her support of Big Tobacco has assisted the party's hold in the Triad, where the party has always been strong and where the Social Liberals got hammered because of their outspoken support for plain-package laws motivated mudslinging by local print media. Despite actually losing ground in the southeastern coast over time due to northern migration, the party still wins majorities in the state as a whole. All in all, 2021 was a success for Margaret Dickson and the Southern People's party...it won a majority on a mountain of wasted votes and on the strength of a highly strategic campaign with almost surgical accuracy. Since 2021 she has worked diligently to get Farmer-Labor on side, knowing full well that next time around, the party is unlikely to repeat this feat again.

On a sidenote, I have changed the blue color used to denote National seats.

the box on the left is the new color, the box on the right is the old one, and enveloping them both is the Southern People's party seats color. Given how similar they were I felt it was good to change. In many places in the South you might see these colors side-by-side...particularly in wealthy exurban areas. As such, I felt a need to get ahead of myself.

 

[X_X]

Alternate 1964:

National: William Scranton (PA) / Margaret Chase Smith (ME)
American Labor: Walter Reuther (MI) / Wayne Morse (OR)
Liberty: Barry Goldwater (AZ) / John Coolidge (VT)
States' Rights: Allen J. Ellender (LA) / Joel Broyhill (VA)

 

[TimTurner]

Starting post
AR
MO, IA, and NE
DE, NY, and NV
AK, GA, and NH
WV, RI, and MI

redone map of the general election in February 2020
as part of the process of making this I noticed an error in North Carolina that understated the SPP vote there; there will therefore be a retcon and a revision of its state election down the line.

 

[LAHistorian15]

Man of Steel: Richard Nixon Wins in 1960
Part One: The 1960s

1960 Presidential Election

1964 Presidential Election

1968 Presidential Election

​

 

[LAHistorian15]

Man of Steel: Richard Nixon Wins in 1960
Part Two: The 1970s

1972 Presidential Election

1976 Presidential Election

 

[Wendell]

Why isn't Lodge renominated in 1972? I also think that the circumstances presented would see Wallace as the Democratic nominee in the alternate 1972...

 

[LAHistorian15]

Why isn't Lodge renominated in 1972? I also think that the circumstances presented would see Wallace as the Democratic nominee in the alternate 1972...

Lodge lost to Humphrey in 1968. With Humphrey as the incumbent, Wallace doesn’t become the nominee or run in the first place.