United States presidential election, 2064 (Original)

=Hypothetical, Fictional Election of 2064=

The election was held on November 4, 2064. Incumbent President William J. Rutherford was reelected in a decisive electoral and popular vote landslide, winning 51 states, including his opponent, Governor Thomas P. Leach's, home state of South Dakota, and the District of Columbia. Rutherford won a record 542 electoral votes and captured 66.1% of the popular vote. Leach won only the state of Mississippi, which gave him just six electoral votes-the lowest won by any American presidential candidate in history, since the beginning of the present system in 1820. He delivered the worst Republican performance in the Electoral College in history, worse than those of President William H. Taft in his reelection bid of 1912 and Governor Alf Landon of Kansas in 1936, each of whom had won only eight electoral votes. Moreover, his performance in the popular vote (33.9%) was the worst of any major-party candidate in American history since John W. Davis in 1924, who had won just 28.8% of the popular vote against President Calvin Coolidge (Davis was hurt by the presence of Senator Robert M. LaFollette Sr. of Wisconsin, who captured 16.6% of the popular vote in that year). It was worse then the performances of Landon (36.5%) or Barry Goldwater (38.5%). President Rutherford achieved therefore, the historic combination of the most popular and electoral votes won by a single candidate. He outperformed Ronald Reagan by seventeen electoral votes (542 electoral votes as compared to Reagan's 525), and won a higher percentage of the Electoral College then had Franklin D. Roosevelt (98.90% vs. Roosevelt's 98.48%). Rutherford's percentage of the popular vote was ahead of those of Warren G. Harding in 1920, Roosevelt in 1936, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, and Richard M. Nixon in 1972. In fact, Rutherford's performance exceeded Johnson's by five percentage points. The popular-vote margin between Rutherford and Leach was a record 33.40%, the largest popular-vote margin in American electoral history. It surpassed the previous record-holder, the margin which had separated Harding and his opponent, Governor James M. Cox of Ohio, in 1920 (26.20%).

In achieving this historic, and decisive win, the President capitalized on a booming economy, foreign policy successes in the Congo, Saudi Arabia, and Korea, the American exploration and colonization efforts at the Moon, Mars, and Venus, and the public perception of his opponent, Governor Leach. Leach had a habit of making off-handed, bullish comments about foreign policy, war, economics, and civil rights. Leach even proposed abandoning exploration efforts planned by NASA and other space authorities for penetration into the outer reaches of the Solar System, a viewpoint seen as ridiculous by many Americans. He was also dogged by allegations of his past sexual behavior, of corruption charges during his time in the U.S. Congress, and of his alleged disregard for Mormons, religious minorities, and Jews. Rutherford, who had won great praise from both sides of the aisle for his ability to compromise and moderate between opposing parties, and for his vigorous support of American economic, energy, and military interests, succeeded in painting Leach as an extremist. His campaign slogans harkened in some ways back to the days of LBJ; Leach's words were turned against him, and the President's surrogates warned that the Governor, if elected, would reverse the progress made to restore American economic strength. Rutherford also touted his conservative policies in regards to a balanced federal budget, reduction of taxes, and equitable tax burdens for both business and the middle-class citizen, policies popular with libertarians and fiscal conservatives.

The consequences of all of this was that he made substantial gains in the electoral map, expanding his decisive win of 2060 into a sweeping landslide in this election year. Rutherford won a number of historic Republican states which had not gone Democratic since the days of LBJ, exactly a century earlier. These included Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Moreover, he became only the third Democrat of the twenty-first century (following Barack Obama in 2008 and Joseph P. Kennedy in 2044), to win Indiana, which had voted Democratic only four times since World War II, the second to win Alaska (following Kennedy), and the fourth to win Montana (following Cory Booker, Kennedy, Boyle, and Charlotte Clinton). He also became the first Democrat of the twenty-first century to win Alabama and West Virginia. The former had not voted Democratic since 1976 (when it had gone for Jimmy Carter); the latter, since 1996, when it had gone for Bill Clinton. Rutherford accomplished all of this while at the same time maintaining and extending Democratic dominance in the Party's traditional strongholds, such as California, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Washington D.C., New York, Illinois, and the states of the Northeast.

Of the 3,224 counties and independent municipalities in the United States making returns, Rutherford won in 2,633 (81.66%) while Leach carried only 591 (18.31%). This was the best performance of any Democrat since FDR in 1936 (who had won 2,634, or 85.11% of the counties then existing in the United States), and the third-best performance of any candidate in the twenty-first century. Rutherford was surpassed only by Donald Trump, who had won 2,600 (83%) of the nation's counties in 2016 and 2,715 (86.8%) of the counties in his reelection of 2020. His total surpassed those of John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012, who had won 72% (2,250) and 78% (2,438) of the nation's counties respectively. It was a far cry from the 875 counties (28%) and 687 counties (22%) won by President Barack Obama in his victories of 2008 and 2012, which had marked a record low for a winning presidential candidate, and from the 526 counties (16.82%) won by Hillary Clinton in her loss to Trump in 2016, the second-worst performance of a Democratic candidate in American electoral history. Conversely, Leach's performance was the worst of any Republican since Alf Landon, and demonstrated the extent to which the two parties had regained equilibrium, on the county level, throughout the country in the decades after 2025. Rutherford maintained his position as only the second Democrat of the century (following Joseph P. Kennedy III in 2040 and 2044) to win a majority of the nation's counties. Kennedy had won 1,628 counties (50.83%) in 2040 and 1,789 counties (55.85%) in 2044. Of the 51 states that the President carried, he won the majority of counties in all but three of them (the exceptions being Nebraska, South Dakota, and Alabama, which, coincidentally, were among the President's closest wins). Rutherford made great inroads into Republican territory in the Mountain West and South, winning counties (such as Ada County, Idaho), which had not gone Democratic since the preceding century. Furthermore, the President won every county in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts (which had seen a Republican-won county in an presidential election only once since 1992, in Trump's reelection of 2020), Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, his home state of Colorado (where he had also won every county four years earlier), Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

As regards to his demographic performance, Rutherford had the best of any Democrat since the days of LBJ. For the first time in the twenty-first century, and the first time since LBJ, one candidate swept all subgroups (religion, race, orientation, income, education, gender) of the electorate. He became the first Democrat since LBJ to win the majority of the white male vote, only the second in the century to win the majority of the overall white vote (following Kennedy), and the first since Jimmy Carter to carry a majority of white evangelicals, born-again Christians, and Protestants (who had been turned off by Leach's irreligion and his private comments about religious organization). He was also the first since LBJ to carry Mormons, key to his decisive win in Utah, long the most Republican of states. Rutherford's performance by race was truly impressive. He won 59% of whites; 94% of African-Americans; 71% of Hispanics; and 67% of Asians/Other voters. He thereby matched Mitt Romney's record of fifty-two years earlier among whites, as well as Barack Obama's 2012 totals among African-Americans and Hispanics, and his 2008 total among Asians. Men (65%) and women (67%) gave the President their support in overwhelming numbers. Rutherford completely dominated the working-class and low-income vote (66%), won a commanding majority among middle-class voters (61%), and beat Leach among wealthier voters (55%). Catholics gave him nearly three-quarters of their votes; Jews, 81%; the non-religious and agnostic, 86%. He carried religious minorities (Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Native American practitioners, Sikhs, etc.), capturing 61% of their votes. Evangelicals gave the President 54% of their votes, a record for a Democrat; Mormons, 59%. All total, Rutherford won 65% of heterosexual voters (95% of the electorate) and 76% of LGBT voters (5% of the electorate).

The Rutherford landslide defeated many conservative Republicans in both the House and the Senate. Democrats picked up eight seats in the Senate and thirty-seven in the House, increasing their majorities to 63-43 in the former and 286-154 in the House. This increase in seats would allow for Rutherford and House Speaker William J. Dixon, Jr. of Washington D.C. (the first African-American Speaker of the House in American history, who had been elevated in 2063) to enact more legislation.

Close States
Blue denotes states (or congressional districts that contribute an electoral vote) won by Democratic President W.J. Rutherford; red denotes those won by Republican Thomas P. Leach.

States/districts with a margin of victory between 1% and 5%


 * 1) Nebraska's 3rd congressional district, 0.18%
 * 2) Mississippi, 0.99%
 * 3) Alabama, 1.83%
 * 4) South Dakota, 2.30%

States/districts with a margin of victory between 5% and 10%


 * 1) Nebraska, 5.23%
 * 2) Louisiana, 7.36%
 * 3) Arizona, 8.25%
 * 4) Georgia, 9.03%
 * 5) Kansas, 9.73%
 * 6) Indiana, 9.94%

Map of the States Won


Top Seven Records:

States with Highest Percent of Vote

Rutherford

1. District of Columbia 97.31%

2. Rhode Island 81.02%

3. Massachusetts 76.69%

4. Hawaii 76.16%

5. Vermont 73.81%

6. Colorado 73.25% (The President's home state)

7. New York 71.05%

Leach

1. Mississippi 49.99% (only win)

2. Alabama 49.09% (Running mate's home state, loss)

3. South Dakota 48.71% (The Governor's home state, loss)

4. Nebraska 47.39%

5. Louisiana 46.18%

6. Arizona 45.87%

7. South Carolina 44.71%

States with Lowest Percent of Vote

Rutherford

1. Mississippi 49.00% (only loss)

2. Alabama 50.92%

3. South Dakota 51.01%

4. Nebraska 52.61%

5. Kansas 53.25%

6. Louisiana 53.54%

7. Georgia 54.09%

Leach

1. District of Columbia 2.69%

2. Rhode Island 18.98%

3. Vermont 23.25%

4. Massachusetts 23.31%

5. Hawaii 23.84%

6. Colorado 26.75%

7. New York 28.95%

State Rank

1. Rutherford (52 states + D.C.) Leach (1 state)

2. Leach (52 states + D.C.) Rutherford (1 state)

Majority of Counties Carried

Rutherford (48 states)

Carried the Majority in:

Alaska (all), Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado (all), Connecticut (all), Delaware (all), Florida, Georgia, Hawaii (all), Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine (all), Maryland, Massachusetts (all), Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi (loss), Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire (all), New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico (all), Rhode Island (all), South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont (all), Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Virgin Islands (all).

Total Number of Counties Carried: 2,633 counties (81.7% of the total, third-highest of the twenty-first century, highest for a Democrat since FDR in 1936)

Leach (3 states)

Carried the Majority in:

Alabama (loss), Nebraska (loss), South Dakota (loss)

Total Number of Counties Carried: 591 counties (18.3% of the total, worst Republican performance since Alf Landon in 1936)

States by Popular Vote (except Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands): http://uselectionatlas.org/TOOLS/genusmap.php?year=2016&ev_c=1&pv_p=1&ev_p=1&type=calc&AL=1;9;5&AK=1;3;6&AZ=1;11;5&AR=1;6;5&CA=1;55;6&CO=1;9;7&CT=1;7;6&DE=1;3;6&DC=1;3;9&FL=1;29;6&GA=1;16;5&HI=1;4;7&ID=1;4;5&IL=1;20;6&IN=1;11;5&IA=1;6;6&KS=1;6;5&KY=1;8;6&LA=1;8;5&MD=1;10;6&MA=1;11;7&MI=1;16;6&MN=1;10;6&MS=2;6;4&MO=1;10;6&MT=1;3;6&NV=1;6;6&NH=1;4;6&NJ=1;14;6&NM=1;5;6&NY=1;29;7&NC=1;15;6&ND=1;3;5&OH=1;18;6&OK=1;7;5&OR=1;7;6&PA=1;20;6&RI=1;4;8&SC=1;9;5&SD=1;3;5&TN=1;11;5&TX=1;38;6&UT=1;6;5&VT=1;3;7&VA=1;13;6&WA=1;12;6&WV=1;5;6&WI=1;10;6&WY=1;3;5&ME=1;2;6&ME1=1;1;7&ME2=1;1;6&NE=1;2;5&NE1=1;1;6&NE2=1;1;5&NE3=1;1;5

Electoral records

 * This election marked the first time in a hundred years, since LBJ's landslide of 1964, that the following states voted Democratic: Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. In the first four states, Rutherford's margins of victory were substantial. In Idaho, Rutherford became the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1936, to win Ada County, home to Idaho's capital, Boise. Ada County had been slowly trending Democratic throughout the century. In 2008, John McCain had carried Ada County over Barack Obama by a relatively close margin of six percentage points. In 2012, Ada County had trended Republican, giving Mitt Romney a double-digit margin of victory. But from 2016 onwards, when some Idaho voters turned to the candidacy of Evan McMullin (as part of the Mormon backlash against Donald Trump), it became ever more friendly territory to the Democrats. Demographic and economic changes, along with changes in the composition of the white electorate, furthered this process along. Democrats became more influential in Boise and Ada County politics; by 2036, the county was providing more support to Democrats in statewide races; and in 2044, Joseph P. Kennedy III came within three points of winning the county. Similar trends were taking place elsewhere throughout the state of Idaho. Madelaine McAuliffe carried Ada County, and Idaho, with only a plurality of the total vote cast in 2052 and 2056, being hurt also by the presence of Libertarian H.W. Verns III. In 2060, Rutherford lost Ada County by just two percentage points, and Idaho by a little over five. It was his popularity, ensuing from his policies, and the perceived extremism of Governor Leach, that finally swung Ada County, and Idaho, to the Democratic Party. Rutherford beat Leach in Ada County by seven percentage points, and carried Idaho with 55.34% of the total votes cast. His victory margin was further boosted by winning many of Idaho's other most populous counties, including Bonneville, Idaho, Bannock, Nez Perce, and Bingham.
 * In Wyoming, Rutherford won reliably Democratic Teton County, in the northwestern corner of the state. This marked the 60th year (since the election of 2004) that the county had backed the Democratic Party. He won Albany County with 67% of the vote; Donald Trump had overcome Hillary Clinton with a plurality there in 2016. Moreover, Rutherford became the first Democrat in the twenty-first century to win Laramie County, Wyoming's most populous county, and home to its capital city Cheyenne. He carried the majority of Wyoming's counties overall, including the populous Fremont, Natrona, Sweetwater, and Carbon Counties. Leach held on to only the traditionally Republican counties in the northeastern corner of the state (except for Weston, which gave Rutherford 51% of its votes, the first time it had voted Democratic since LBJ) and Uinta County in the southwest. Overall, Rutherford won 58.41% of the vote in Wyoming, outperforming LBJ's 1964 total (56.56%) and defeating Leach in this Republican state by a record double-digit margin. Wyoming voters were especially repelled by Leach's crazy comments on the environment, land use, and energy research.
 * In Utah, Rutherford shot forward to a commanding victory, winning 59.09% of the total votes cast. This was due to a number of factors. First, the Salt Lake City metropolitan area had experienced substantial growth since the beginning of the century; by 2064, more then 30% of Utah's population lived in the region, which had always been the most Democratic in the state. Second, Leach's perceived hostility towards Mormons, and his ill-advised comments about religion, alienated many Utahans against him. And third, Rutherford's policies regarding land use, energy research, and his promotion of military and other interests in Utah earned him much good regard. Thus, Utah voters split their tickets heavily that year, voting Republicans for local and state offices, as they had for generations, but backing Rutherford decisively over Leach. Salt Lake and Summit Counties had now voted Democratic for twenty-eight years (since the election of 2036), having earlier gone to the Party in 2008, 2016, and 2028. In North Dakota, gracious to the President for his strong support of the Keystone Gen III pipeline, Rutherford won 57.97% of the vote. He beat Leach in Cass County (home to Fargo, the state's most populous city), by fourteen percentage points, and in Burleigh County (home to Bismarck, the state's capital), by nine percentage points.
 * In Nebraska, Rutherford became the first Democrat of the twenty-first century to win all of its electoral votes (Barack Obama in 2008, Cory Booker in 2028 and 2032, and Joseph P. Kennedy in 2044, as well as Rutherford himself in his initial election of 2060, had won the vote from the 2nd congressional district). He beat Leach in the 2nd district by thirteen percentage points (where Obama had beat McCain by just over one), and in the 1st district (which included Lincoln) by seven. Due to winning North Platte, Grand Island, Kearney, and Hastings, and driving down Republican margins of victory in most of the remaining rural counties, he edged Leach out in the 3rd district by 0.18%, by far his closest win. South Dakota, which was Rutherford's second-closest state win, was Leach's home state. Leach had a home-state advantage, but his relatively low favorable ratings gave an opening to Rutherford. The President, unlike LBJ in 1964 and Ronald Reagan in 1984, extensively targeted his opponent's home state, and achieved the success of Roosevelt and Nixon; he humiliated Leach by a margin of 2.30%. Though Leach won the majority of South Dakota's counties, Rutherford's victory was secured by Minnehaha County, where Sioux Falls, the state's most populous city, home to 38% of its population, was located; the President beat Leach there by a margin of eleven percentage points, providing his margin of victory in the state overall and canceling out Leach's high totals in Pierre, South Dakota's capital, as well as the western regions of the state.
 * In Kansas, Rutherford won with 53.25% of the vote. In addition to running up high totals in Wyandotte County (home to Kansas City, and long a Democratic holdout in the state), where he beat Leach by fifteen percentage points, he carried both Sedgwick County (home to Wichita, the state's most populous city) and Shawnee County (home to Topeka, the state's capital), as well as the counties through the heart of the state. He won Sedgwick 52%-48% and Shawnee 54%-46%. Rutherford's victory was also historic for the state in another way; for the first time in 132 years, Kansas elected a Democrat to the United States Senate. Kansas State Treasurer Robin A. Matthews of Lawrence beat Charles K. Roberts of Abilene 51%-49% in the special election held that year (Senator Chris J. Orman had died suddenly in June 2064). And in Oklahoma, Rutherford won 55.41% of the vote. He won back Little Dixie, the historic Democratic region in the southeastern part of the state, and carried Oklahoma County, home to Oklahoma City, capital and most populous city in the state. Only the Oklahoma Panhandle and Tulsa County remained firm for Governor Leach. Rutherford's performance here was especially notable because in every election from 2004 to 2040, Democrats had failed to carry a single county in the state, and Republicans had won at least 60% of the vote there in each of those elections. The increasing African-American and Hispanic population; the decline of the influence of evangelicals and the oil industry; and the changing composition of the electorate all benefited the President. Oklahomans also distrusted Leach, and were turned off by his rhetoric, as well as his perceived anti-energy policies in South Dakota. As in Kansas, Rutherford had coattails; Jerri A. Jones, who had represented Oklahoma's 5th congressional district since 2057, defeated her Republican opponent, Attorney-General Thom A. Hartman of Tulsa, 52%-48%, to become the first African-American Senator elected from Oklahoma.
 * Rutherford's victory in Indiana marked only the third time in the century (following the elections of 2008 and 2044), that the state voted Democratic. The President won 55.05% of the vote in the state. He swept all of Indiana's major cities: Indianapolis and Gary (both of which had long been Democratic strongholds, and had gradually gained more proportionate influence in state politics), Fort Wayne (which he carried with a plurality, 49% to Leach's 45%, becoming the first Democrat since FDR to win there), South Bend, and Evansville (another historic Republican city, where he defeated Leach by eleven percentage points). Leach's hold of the Indianapolis suburbs and of the state's eastern regions made Indiana one of Rutherford's closest wins; however, it was the last on that list (the margin was 9.94%). Rutherford, in fact, outperformed Mitt Romney (who had won 54.1% in 2012). In 2016, Donald Trump had destroyed Hillary Clinton in Indiana, beating her by a margin of nearly nineteen percentage points. Rutherford's win in Indiana made him the first candidate since Obama in 2008 to sweep all of the Great Lakes states (Kennedy had lost Indiana and Michigan in 2040, and Michigan in 2044, holding him back from that feat).
 * Alabama was Rutherford's closest win. Rutherford did well in the Black Belt counties, running up particularly high margins in Bullock, Russell, Wilcox, and Marengo Counties. Leach, however, won the majority of counties in the state, with his victories in Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Coffee, Colbert, and Covington Counties in particular contributing to his total vote. In the northern regions of the state, where pockets of anti-Democratic, conservative sentiment, were still strong in 2064, Rutherford won less than 15% of the vote; in Jackson, he got less than 9% of the vote, and in Marshall, just 12%. Moreover, the margin of victory for him in Baldwin County was a mere two percentage points; Leach also came close to beating him in Dallas and Greene Counties. The difference for Rutherford was in Jefferson and Montgomery Counties, the most populous in the state, and where a more ethnically diverse, liberal population resided; in Jefferson, he beat Leach by eighteen percentage points, and in Montgomery, by twelve. In the end, Rutherford won Alabama by 1.83%. This was the first time in nearly ninety years, since Jimmy Carter in 1976, that a Democrat had carried the state. Moreover, Alabama happened to be the home state of Leach's running mate, Congressman Marty Daniels of Tuscaloosa. Rutherford, therefore, had the satisfaction of winning (by close margins), the home states of both his opponents.
 * Mississippi, the closest state in the election, and "sister" to Alabama, was, by a strange paradox, Governor Leach's only win. Leach prevailed there by 0.99%; he got 49.99% to Rutherford's 49%. It was the only state won by either candidate with a plurality, not a majority, of the vote. Rutherford actually won the majority of counties in the state; he swept all of the traditionally Democratic counties of the Mississippi River, particularly Yazoo, Washington, Tunica, Jefferson, and Franklin; he also won Lamar, Forrest (home to Hattiesburg, the second-largest city in the state by the middle of the century), and Stone Counties in the southeastern regions, and in addition, won Marshall, Oktibbeha, Madison, Monroe, and Union Counties in the northern part of the state. Leach, however, countered by carrying the populous Jackson, Harrison, and Hancock Counties on the Gulf; narrowly defeating Rutherford (by less then a percentage point each) in both Rankin and Hinds Counties (the latter home to Jackson, the state's capital city); and running up high totals in the southeastern regions of the state, helped by lingering complaints by Dixie voters against the Democratic Party. Mississippi, therefore, denied Rutherford a 52-state landslide, which many had considered possible, due to the nationwide polls and analyzes by statisticians. Nevertheless, like Reagan, he came close to that goal; the final margin between Leach and Rutherford was a mere 4,500 votes, all of it from the difference in Hinds County. Rutherford would later state that if he had invested more effort in Hinds County, he would have carried the state. Mississippi would finally be carried by the Democrats, under the banner of Christopher Liu, in the election of 2076.
 * By contrast to Alabama and Mississippi, Rutherford dominated in the Northeast, which had, since the late twentieth century, been the Democratic Party's most partisan and most consistent region. He broke 80% in Rhode Island, long considered the most Democratic state in the nation; 70% in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York; and 60% in the remaining states. Rutherford's performance in these states was the best of any Democrat in history. He got over 90% in Boston, and no less then 60% of the vote in each of that state's other counties. In Rhode Island, Leach was demolished in Providence County, winning only 9% of the votes there. He did best in Kent County (which had been won by Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020), winning 19% of the votes there. This lifted his overall total in the state to 18.98%, still his worst performance in the country (after solidly Democratic D.C., where he picked up a paltry 2.69% of the vote, the worst ever for a Republican in the federal District). In New York, Rutherford far outperformed Hillary Clinton. Although he did not win every county in the state (unlike LBJ in 1964), he did carry the majority (56). Moreover, his performance in New York City was absolutely commanding. He won 87% of the vote, the highest total for any presidential candidate, and swept all five of the city's boroughs: Manhattan (96%, his best borough); Brooklyn (91%); Queens (87%); The Bronx (82%); and Staten Island (66%), all went for Rutherford. He also swept all of Long Island's suburban and rural counties, garnering 71% in once-Republican Nassau County and 63% in Suffolk County. He won 80% in Albany; 72% in Buffalo; 70% in Syracuse; and 67% in Ithaca. In Dutchess County, FDR's native county, Rutherford got 76%. Even in counties that he lost, Rutherford did very well; he came within 0.2% of winning Hamilton County, which had become the most Republican county in upstate New York by the middle of the century, and 0.6% of winning Wyoming and Allegheny Counties.
 * In Pennsylvania, Rutherford won 76% of the vote in Philadelphia, the highest total for a Democrat there in the twenty-first century, and swept Chester, Bucks, Montgomery, and Delaware Counties, those suburban counties surrounding Philadelphia, with more then 60% of the vote in each. In Allegheny County, the President won 61% of the vote. He also broke into Republican strongholds in central and western Pennsylvania, which had stood together ever since Donald Trump's upset victory in 2016. Clarion, Forrest, Jefferson, and Indiana Counties were the only ones to remain loyal to Governor Leach; he won the first two with a plurality, edging Rutherford out by two percentage points, prevailed in Jefferson by five points, and in Indiana by six. Rutherford succeeded, therefore, in maintaining the Democratic hold of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and the suburbs; in holding working-class voters, miners, and farmers; and in breaking the back of Republican strength in the central regions of the state.
 * Colorado, the President's home state, was the only state on the Mainland outside of the Northeast where the President won every single county. This result had also been seen in 2060, and in 2058, when he had been elected to his second (and final) term in the United States Senate. He won 91% of the vote in Denver County, absolutely routing Leach in the state's capital city. Jefferson, Adams, Arapahoe, Clear Creek, Gilpin, and Broomfield Counties all gave Rutherford at least 70% of their votes; in Broomfield, he won 83%. Boulder County supported him with 87% of its votes, while Larimer gave him 82% and Grant, 79%. In Pueblo County, Rutherford got 73%; in Los Animas, 70%; Conejos, Huerfano, Costilla, and Alamosa Counties also gave him more then 70% of their votes. He won 72% in Mesa County; 71% in San Miguel and Dolores Counties; 69% in Gunnison County; 68% in Chaffee; and 65% in Park, Lake, Pitkin, and Eagle Counties. Summit County gave him 68% of the vote. Even the Republican regions of the state lined up behind their native-son, as they had in his two prior elections. Douglas County rewarded him with 66% of its votes; Elbert County, 64%; and Teller County, once considered the most Republican in Colorado, 61%. El Paso County, the bastion of Republican strength in Colorado, gave him 67% of its votes; He won 62% in Fremont, 61% in Custer, 63% in Otero, 60% in Kiowa, 59% in Cheyenne, and 66% in Prowers, Baca, and Crow. Kit Carson and Yuma each gave him 56% of their votes; Sedgwick County, 57%. Leach's best county in Colorado was Washington, once one of the best for McCain, Romney, and Trump in the state; Rutherford won 52% there, an increase of one percentage point over 2060. Overall, Rutherford won 73.25% of the vote in Colorado, the highest won by a presidential candidate there in history.
 * Rutherford had extensive coattails. As mentioned above, Democrats gained eight seats in the Senate and thirty-seven in the House of Representatives, increasing their majorities to 63-43 (Senate) and 286-154 (House). Democrats gained open seats in Kansas and Oklahoma, and defeated Republican incumbents in Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Montana, North Dakota, and Indiana. History was made with the election of Jerri Jones as the first African-American Senator from Oklahoma, Robin A. Matthews as the first Democratic Senator elected from Kansas in 132 years, and J.P. Divalak as the first Senator of Bangladeshi descent from Maine (succeeding his Democratic predecessor, Mavis A. Dupont). This year was also known as "The Rout of the Old Men", for four of the six Republican incumbents defeated were senior citizens. The remaining two were middle-aged. The most senior Republican incumbent defeated this year was Jerome H. Cartwright of Indiana, first elected in 2034, and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2057 to 2061. Cartwright was 83 years old at the time of his defeat, and had become Dean of the Senate in January 2063. Cartwright lost (51%-48%) to Representative Timothy Deats of Indianapolis. The Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, R.H. Sanders of North Dakota, then 79, was defeated by retired Army Sgt. Charlie J. Colms (39); he lost by a eleven-point margin (55%-44%). The oldest of these Republican incumbents, Marcus DeWitte of Pennsylvania, first elected in 2038, was 87 years old; he lost to his Democratic opponent, Representative Christopher A. Liu of Philadelphia, by a double-digit margin, 59%-41%. In Virginia, it was Robert H. Whine of Richmond, 77, who was turned out; first elected in 2046, he lost, by a ten-point margin, to the Lieutenant Governor, 49-year old Andrew T. Majors, 55%-45%.
 * Of the others: in Florida, Jane D. Whitling, 48, who had been elected in 2058, lost her seat (54%-46%) to private businessman Obadiah P. Benson of Miami, 55; Benson became only the second African-American Senator elected from Florida in the century. And in Montana, Robb A. Masters, 53, first elected in 2052, lost (53%-47%) to the Speaker of the Montana House, Ernesto D. Benavides of Helena. Rutherford's landslide also sustained the two most vulnerable Democratic incumbents, R.H. Nicks of Tennessee (58) and Christine Garfield of Nebraska (48), both of whom had been elected in the McAuliffe backlash of 2058, and both of whom edged out their Republican rivals by a few points (Nicks won 52%-48% and Garfield, 49%-46%). Democrats also came close to defeating another "Old Man", Dick Bornstein of Wyoming, then 78, the most conservative Republican Senator in Congress, first elected in 2046; although Rutherford won Wyoming over Leach by a margin of nearly seventeen percentage points, Bornstein edged out his Democratic opponent, Kathy Simpson, by 0.49%, due to pluralities in Carbon and Natrona Counties, as well as high margins in the state's northeastern Republican strongholds, carried by Leach in the general.
 * This election marked the first time in a hundred years that a Democrat won at least 90% of the Electoral College. Rutherford's 98.90% (542-6) was the highest percentage of electoral votes won by a single candidate in American history, surpassing the record set by FDR 128 years earlier, in his landslide reelection of 1936. In 2060, Rutherford had fallen, by a close margin, short of the 90% landmark, winning 86.58% of the College then (471-73).
 * Thirteen states flipped to the President from the preceding election of 2060: Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Indiana, West Virginia, Alabama, and Alaska. This was the greatest flip of states to a President seeking reelection in the twenty-first century, surpassing that of 2020, when seven states (Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine, Virginia, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico) had flipped to Donald Trump for his reelection. Corresponding with this was a flip in counties. Rutherford gained 569 counties (17.64% of the total) which had voted for Vice-President Hughes four years earlier. This was the greatest swing of counties to a single candidate between elections in the century, surpassing that number (220 counties), which Donald Trump and the Republicans had gained from Barack Obama and the Democrats in 2016. Rutherford's flip of counties swung the above states into his column and strengthened his totals in the other states, contributing to his wider margin of victory. Moreover, it raised his winning majority of counties from 62.89% in 2060 to 81.66% in this election. Rutherford obtained, therefore, the best county-level performance of any Democrat since FDR in 1936, and the third-best of the twenty-first century, behind Donald Trump's victories in 2016 and 2020.
 * According to exit polls, 26% of Republicans crossed party-lines and voted to reelect President Rutherford. This was the highest level of cross-party defection which had been seen since 1984, when Ronald Reagan had won a similar number of Democrats in his landslide reelection over Walter Mondale. Moreover, 98% of Democrats backed Rutherford, the highest level of uniform party support for their nominee yet in an election. Rutherford also trounced Leach among moderates (61%-39%) and independents (57%-42%), contributing further to his overall margin of victory.
 * Rutherford outperformed Barack Obama in both Illinois and Hawaii, which had been that President's two home states. In Illinois, he won 67.02% of the vote, carrying 88 of its 102 counties. By contrast, Obama had won 61.92% of the vote there in 2008, but had won just 45 counties, compared to John McCain's 57. Rutherford's victory was far more geographically uniform; he maintained the Democratic grip on Cook County, and won an absolute majority in all but four of the Illinois counties that he carried. In Hawaii, one of the most heavily Democratic states in the nation, Rutherford won 76.16% of the vote, the highest won by a Democrat there since LBJ. Obama had won 71.85% of the vote there against McCain in 2008 and 70.55% against Romney in 2012.
 * Rutherford won the highest percentage ever for a Democrat in the District of Columbia: 97.31%. Democrats had, by 2064, won at least 90% of the vote in the District in every election since 2008 but two (2020 and 2052). The District marked its centennial anniversary of participation in the Electoral College this year, having never given its electoral votes to a Republican presidential candidate during that time.
 * This was the first election in which the state of the Virgin Islands participated. Virgin Islands had been admitted to the Union on October 2, 2063, as the 52nd state. President Rutherford, who had been a strong advocate for the admission of the Islands, and had signed the bill granting it statehood, was rewarded by its residents with 69.01% of their votes. Moreover, Rutherford swept all twenty of the state's counties, winning no less than 55% in each individual county.
 * Rutherford became only the second Democrat in the twenty-first century (following Joseph P. Kennedy in 2040 and 2044) to win the majority of the white vote. Moreover, he became the first Democrat since LBJ in 1964 to win both the white male and the white female vote, and the second (following Kennedy) to win the majority of white college graduates. By 2064, whites comprised a plurality (45%) of the overall population, having fallen from majority status in 2043, when minority populations had crossed the fifty percent threshold for the first time in American history. Nevertheless, they were still the single largest group of the electorate, and still comprised the majority of voters in much of the Midwest and West, particularly in states such as Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Utah, Idaho, and the Dakotas. Rutherford won 59% of the white vote, the highest percentage yet for a Democrat in that century (Kennedy had won exactly 50% in 2040 and 52% in 2044). The President won 61% of white women and 55% of white men. He matched Mitt Romney's overall share of the white vote from fifty-two years earlier, and outperformed Donald Trump's 2016 total by a percentage point (Trump had won 58% of the white vote that year). Among white college graduates, Rutherford won 57% of their votes; many were repelled by Leach's comments, his rhetoric, and his perceived hostility towards religious minorities. Rutherford won the majority of the white vote in every state but Alabama and Mississippi, where residual resentment of the Democratic Party and conservative views on racial, social, and economic policy still persisted.
 * The President's performance with racial minorities was on par with the performance of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. He won 94% of the African-American vote; this was the highest percentage won by a Democrat since Cory Booker earned 96% in his reelection of 2032. It was the African-American vote that secured Rutherford's win in Alabama and put him within less then a percentage point of winning Mississippi. African-Americans in metropolitan areas, in particular, strongly supported the President's policies regarding urban development, education, and criminal justice reform. Among Hispanics, Rutherford won 71%; he thereby matched Barack Obama's figure from 2012. Hispanics looked kindly upon his successful mediation of the Second Mexican Drug War and his strong support for bilingual education programs. And among Asians/Others, Rutherford won 67%.
 * Rutherford won back Elliott County in Kentucky for the Democratic Party. Elliott County had once been the most strongly Democratic county in the country, voting for the party's presidential nominees in every election from 1872 to 2012. In 2012, however, it had given Barack Obama only a plurality (49%) of its votes. Four years later, Donald Trump had won the county decisively, winning 70% of the vote. In every election from 2016 through 2060, Elliott County had voted Republican. Trump won 82% there in his reelection of 2020, and from 2024 to 2044, the county never failed to give Republican nominees less than 55% of the vote. Many of the voters in that region had been turned off by the social and environmental policies of the Democrats in Obama's time. By the middle of the century, thanks to the influence of Kennedy and others, the Party had become more socially moderate, while remaining economically liberal. In 2056, Elliott County began to turn against the Republicans; Madelaine McAuliffe won just over 50% of the vote there that year. In 2060, Rutherford came within two percentage points of winning the county against Vice-President Hughes. But finally, in 2064, the county returned to its ancestral roots: it gave the President 63% of its votes. Kentucky, moreover, was one of the President's better states; he won 64.01% of the vote, outperforming LBJ's 1964 total and Donald Trump's 2016 total.
 * All together, Rutherford cracked 90% in the federal District; 80% in one state (Rhode Island); 70% in five states (Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Colorado, and Hawaii); 60% in 29 states (Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico); and 50% in 14 states (South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah). His region-by-region performance, consequently, was the best of any candidate in the twenty-first century, and the best since FDR. He won all of his states with an absolute majority, repeating his performance of 2060, and distinguishing himself as the only candidate of the century to do so. Collated together, Rutherford got 72% in the Northeast; 66% in the Midwest; 61% in the South; 64% in the West; and 69% in the non-contiguous States.