The United States presidential election of 2064 was the 70th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 4, 2064. Democratic candidate and incumbent President William V. Afton had come to office in January 2061 with the United States gripped in the Second Great Recession, with genetic rights becoming the chief civil rights issue in the United States, and with foreign policy crises in the Korean Peninsula, West Africa, and Indochina. Rutherford and the Democratic Congress had embarked on a series of tax relief, infrastructure reform, labor reform, civil rights reform, and educational reform initiatives which had become known as the New Destiny. The President, moreover, had successfully negotiated the commencement of reunion talks between the increasingly democratized North Korea and its long-time South Korean counterpart, had greatly reduced both inflation and unemployment, and had passed the pivotal Human Anti-Discrimination and Comprehensive Protections Act. Rutherford, consequently, who enjoyed high approval ratings with the American populace, won 66.1% of the popular vote, the highest win by a candidate since James Monroe's re-election in 1820. It was the most lopsided US presidential election in terms of both popular and electoral votes. No candidate for president has since equaled or surpassed Rutherford's percentage of the popular vote, and since 1820, only Abraham Lincoln in 1864, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, Richard M. Nixon in 1972, and Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 have won by a similar electoral vote margin.
The Republican candidate, Senator Thomas P. Leach of South Dakota, suffered from a lack of support within his own party, his controversial statements, and his deeply unpopular political positions. Rutherford's campaign continued to advocate for the New Destiny and successfully portrayed Leach as being a dangerous extremist. Rutherford easily won reelection to the Presidency, carrying 51 of the 52 states and the District of Columbia, which marked its centennial anniversary of voting in this election. He therefore obtained 542 electoral votes. Leach carried just one state, Mississippi, earning just six electoral votes, thereby joining George McGovern and Walter Mondale in ignominy. This election was the first with the participation of the newly-admitted Virgin Islands.
Leach's unsuccessful bid spelled an end to the historic conservative movement and caused a realignment within the Republican Party that ultimately culminated in the victories of Tommy Franks in 2072 and Robert M. Kraft in 2080. His campaign still received its greatest amount of support from traditional Republican regions in the Deep South and in the Mountain West. Conversely, Rutherford became the first Democrat in a century to win the states of Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, the first in 88 years to win Alabama, and the first in 68 years to win West Virginia, as well as only the third Democrat of the twenty-first century to carry the historic Republican state of Indiana.
No post 2064 presidential candidate has been able to match or better Rutherford's performance in the Electoral College, in the popular vote, or on a geographic basis. Moreover, Rutherford had the best performance of any Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
General election[]
Campaign[]
Although Leach had been successful in overcoming opposing factions at the Republican National Convention, he was unable to broaden his base of support for the general election. Shortly before the Convention, he had alienated moderate Republicans by voting against the Human Anti-Discrimination and Comprehensive Protections Act, which Rutherford championed and signed into law. Leach said that he considered sentient and genetic rights to be a state, rather then a federal issue, and believed the 2064 act to be unconstitutional. Leach's vote against the legislation helped cause non-religious and non-denominational voters to vote overwhelmingly for the President. Leach also expressed his opposition to the Supreme Court's ruling in Brailey vs. Waite (2062), which had reaffirmed federal civil rights protections for all refugees reaching American soil. Moreover, Leach became known for his controversial statements on a variety of subjects. Many of these statements were given wide publicity by the Democrats. In the early 2060s, Leach had referred to the Asian foreign policies of former Republican President Madelaine McAuliffe as a "kow-tow to America's enemies, and anathema to America's interests." McAuliffe never forgave Leach for this; Leach, moreover, had criticized the former President's policies in regards to inflation, corporate taxation, and environmental issues.
In December 2061, Leach told a news conference that he thought the country would be better if "we could just cut off the foreign elements: the vagrants, the welfare-queens, the dykes, the anarchists, the communistic influences, the socialists, the idealists, and all of the others who would seek to place foreign values and expectations above American values and expectations." When criticized by Alaska Senator Jonathan Corker four months later, Leach made snide remarks about "draining out the Bering Straits" and "letting loose the animals upon the Arctic soil sands", comments considered to be disgraceful by many Americans. This came back to haunt him, in the form of a Rutherford advertisement accusing the Senator of disregarding whole segments of the American population, as did comments Leach made about making Social Security and Medicare voluntary, reducing federal grants for university education and rolling back charter school programs, getting rid of protective tariffs, and abolishing the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Infrastructure Stimulus Board, and the Department of the Interior, among other federal agencies. Leach also proposed abandoning exploration efforts by NASA into the outskirts of the Solar System, saying in a speech of June 17, 2064 that "America needs no role in the affairs of celestial space", a viewpoint viewed as ridiculous by many Americans. He even called for suspending all future development and research missions to Mars, Venus, Ceres, and the Asteroid Belt. In regards to foreign policy, Leach criticized the President's efforts at encouraging reunification talks between North and South Korea, called for full-scale military intervention in the Congo (a viewpoint roundly opposed by many Americans) and openly talked of nuclear mobilization, declaring the Non-Proliferation Treaty of Moscow of July 2061 to be a "paper tiger, meant to delude all and to disarm all."
Leach was also hurt by the reluctance of many other moderate Republicans to support him. Governors Jon Halsted of Pennsylvania and Amy Peterson of Missouri refused to endorse Leach and did not campaign for him. 91-year-old former President Marco Rubio commented to his associates and family about Leach, urging his fellow Republicans to "denounce hatred against Americans and calls for disunity", and stated that it would be a tragedy if Leach's platform were not repudiated by the Republican Party. He too refused to endorse Leach. Many Republican publications, such as the National Review, the Arizona Republic, the Dallas Beagle, the Patriotic View, and the Conservative Digest, among others, endorsed Rutherford; in fact, of the nation's top 100 online and broadcasting publications, not a single one backed Leach. Some Republicans, especially those in states such as Iowa and Ohio, even formed a "Republicans for Rutherford" organization; former Senator Charles Hammond of Iowa was the most prominent organizer of this group.
McAuliffe's strong backing could have been an asset to Leach's campaign, but its absence was clearly noted. When questioned about McAuliffe's daughter, Representative Alyssa N. McAuliffe of Kansas in July 2064, by the American Journal, Leach refused to compliment her, declaring that she would follow her mother's worst errors in policy. McAuliffe, outraged by this, then refused to campaign for Leach, although she did not endorse Rutherford. Rutherford, on the other hand, had the strong support of former President Joseph P. Kennedy III, who campaigned vigorously on his behalf, even at the age of eighty-four.
Ads and slogans[]
Rutherford positioned himself as a moderate and succeeded in portraying Leach as a extremist. As mentioned above, Leach's habit about making blunt statements concerning foreign policy, economics, and the like, as well as his unpopular political positions, could be turned against him. The President's surrogates warned that the Senator, if elected, would reverse the progress made to restore American economic strength. Rutherford also touted his policies in relation to taxation, the federal budget, and corporate regulation, policies which won him the support of many fiscal conservatives, libertarians, and moderates. On September 7, 2064, the President's campaign, responding to allegations of Leach's bias against Jews, Muslims, and Mormons, among other religious minority groups, launched what became the most famous advertisement of the election: "The American Mosaic". This mosaic depicted Americans of all racial, ethnic, social, and religious backgrounds, was decked in patriotic themes, and touted the concept of the "melting pot", so classic to American history and thought. Another Rutherford ad, The Reasonable Voters, showed interview clips of various, everyday Americans, expressing their disgust with Leach's comments, his ideology, and his voting record. Voters increasingly viewed Leach as a fringe candidate; many Republicans considered him to be not a true successor to either Reagan or Trump. Leach's slogan, "The course is set for American truth with Leach" was successfully twisted by Rutherford's campaign into "The course is set for American nohow with Leach." Other Rutherford slogans touted the themes of "America Forward!", "Move on with WJR", and "When you vote straight (for Rutherford), you vote right."
Rutherford also took advantage of Leach's refusal to debate him, accusing his opponent of breaking "time-honored American tradition" and reminding voters of the need to negotiate, to debate, and to discuss, for the effective operation of government and the proper conduct of diplomacy. A Gallup poll of October 22, 2064, revealed that 76% of Americans disapproved of Leach's decision; 59% disagreed with his foreign and economic policy views; and 64% expressed strong dismay with his statements and voting record.
The President's campaign also extensively targeted states such as Indiana, Nebraska, Kansas, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, Alabama, and Wyoming, when polls revealed that voters in those states were turning against the Republican Party for the first time in generations.
Rutherford led Leach in all opinion polls by huge margins throughout the entire campaign.
Results[]
Election results by county. Blue-Counties won by W.J. Rutherford. Red-Counties won by T.P. Leach. Note: Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are not shown here. Rutherford won all of Puerto Rico's 78 counties and VI's 20.
The election was held on November 4, 2064. Rutherford beat Leach in the general election, winning over 66% of the popular vote, the highest percentage since the popular vote first became widespread in 1824. He carried 51 states (including South Dakota, Leach's home state) and the District of Columbia, capturing a record 542 electoral votes. In the end, 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%).
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%).
The 2064 election established a number of significant electoral milestones for the United States. For the first time in one hundred years, since LBJ's landslide of 1964, the states of Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma voted Democratic. Moreover, Rutherford won the new state of the Virgin Islands in its very first election and became only the third Democrat of the twenty-first century (following Obama and Kennedy III) to carry Indiana, which had voted Democratic only four times now since World War II. He also was the first Democrat of the century to carry Alabama and West Virginia. The former had last voted Democratic 88 years earlier (for Jimmy Carter in 1976), while the latter had last done so 68 years earlier (for Bill Clinton in 1996).
Of the 3,239 counties, independent municipalities, and parishes making returns, Rutherford won in 2,648 (81.75%) while Leach carried 591 (18.25%).
Rutherford won every county in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Colorado, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
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.
| United States presidential election, 2064 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | William Jefferson Rutherford | 198,180,000 | 66.05% | 542 | |
| Republican | Thomas Pirchard Leach | 101,102,000 | 33.94% | 6 | |
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.
Margin of victory under 1% (7 electoral votes)
- Nebraska's 3rd congressional district, 0.18%
- Mississippi, 0.99%
Margin of victory under 5% (13 electoral votes)
- Alabama, 1.83%
- South Dakota, 2.30%
Margin of victory over 5%, but less then 10% (61 electoral votes)
- Nebraska, 5.23%
- Louisiana, 7.36%
- Arizona, 8.25%
- Georgia, 9.03%
- Kansas, 9.73%
- Indiana, 9.94%
Results by State[]
| State | William J. Rutherford (Democratic) | Thomas P. Leach (Republican) |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 50.92% | 49.09% |
| Alaska | 66.35% | 33.65% |
| Arizona | 54.12% | 45.87% |
| Arkansas | 56.21% | 43.79% |
| California | 69.09% | 30.91% |
| Colorado | 73.25% | 26.75% |
| Connecticut | 67.81% | 32.19% |
| Delaware | 68.16% | 29.83% |
| District of Columbia | 97.31% | 2.69% |
| Florida | 62.86% | 37.14% |
| Georgia | 54.09% | 45.06% |
| Hawaii | 76.16% | 23.84% |
| Idaho | 55.34% | 44.66% |
| Illinois | 67.02% | 30.82% |
| Indiana | 55.05% | 45.11% |
| Iowa | 61.88% | 38.12% |
| Kansas | 53.25% | 43.52% |
| Kentucky | 64.01% | 35.99% |
| Louisiana | 53.54% | 46.18% |
| Maine | 68.87% | 31.13% |
| Maryland | 66.23% | 33.77% |
| Massachusetts | 76.69% | 23.31% |
| Michigan | 66.70% | 33.30% |
| Minnesota | 63.76% | 36.24% |
| Mississippi | 49.00% | 49.99% |
| Missouri | 64.05% | 35.95% |
| Montana | 60.87% | 39.13% |
| Nebraska | 52.61% | 47.39% |
| Nebraska's 3rd congressional district | 50.01% | 49.83% |
| Nevada | 61.10% | 36.22% |
| New Hampshire | 63.89% | 36.11% |
| New Jersey | 61.98% | 38.02% |
| New Mexico | 64.17% | 35.83% |
| New York | 71.05% | 28.95% |
| North Carolina | 62.73% | 37.27% |
| North Dakota | 57.97% | 42.03% |
| Ohio | 62.94% | 37.06% |
| Oklahoma | 55.41% | 44.59% |
| Oregon | 64.03% | 31.97% |
| Pennsylvania | 64.92% | 35.08% |
| Puerto Rico | 66.14% | 33.90% |
| Rhode Island | 81.02% | 18.98% |
| South Carolina | 54.75% | 44.71% |
| South Dakota | 51.01% | 48.71% |
| Tennessee | 55.50% | 44.50% |
| Texas | 63.25% | 36.75% |
| Utah | 59.09% | 40.91% |
| Vermont | 73.81% | 23.25% |
| Virginia | 62.31% | 35.61% |
| Washington | 64.90% | 32.00% |
| West Virginia | 61.05% | 38.95% |
| Wisconsin | 64.12% | 34.01% |
| Wyoming | 58.41% | 41.59% |
| Virgin Islands | 69.01% | 30.99% |
| Total | 66.05% (51 states + D.C., 542) | 33.94% (1 state, 6) |
Results by Demographic Group[]
| Group (%) | William J. Rutherford (Democratic) | Thomas P. Leach (Republican) |
|---|---|---|
| Women | 67 | 33 |
| Men | 65 | 35 |
| White | 59 | 41 |
| Black | 94 | 6 |
| Hispanic | 72 | 28 |
| Asian | 73 | 27 |
| Other | 58 | 42 |
| College | 68 | 32 |
| High school or lower | 62 | 38 |
| Prof & Business | 61 | 39 |
| White collar | 60 | 40 |
| Manual | 69 | 31 |
| 18-30 | 68 | 32 |
| 30-49 | 64 | 36 |
| 50 and older | 62 | 38 |
| Protestants | 55 | 45 |
| Catholics | 76 | 24 |
| Jews | 77 | 23 |
| Agnostic/Atheistic | 81 | 19 |
| Other | 61 | 39 |
| Republicans | 33 | 67 |
| Democrats | 98 | 2 |
| Independents | 61 | 39 |
| East | 69 | 31 |
| Midwest | 64 | 36 |
| South | 56 | 44 |
| West | 63 | 37 |
| Urban | 66 | 34 |
| Suburban | 62 | 38 |
| Rural | 60 | 40 |
| Total | 66.05% | 33.94% |
Map of the States Won[]
The 51-State Landslide of W.J. Rutherford (2064), following those of Reagan (1984) and Nixon (1972). It was the first such landslide for the Democrats, and the greatest victory of the 21st century for either party.
compared to:
The results by county (2064). Note that Leach won the majority of counties in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Alabama, but lost those states, while Rutherford won the majority in Mississippi, although losing there. The reasons for their respective victories and losses in those states are provided below. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are not indicated; Rutherford won their combined total of 98 counties. Leach did not win a single county in twelve states.
and also to:
The popular-vote percentages by state (2064). Rutherford broke 80% in 1 state (Rhode Island); 70% in five states (Massachusetts, Vermont, Colorado, New York, and Hawaii); 60% in 29 states; and 50% in 14 states. Leach won a single state (Mississippi), with over 40% of the vote, the only state won by either candidate with a plurality, not an absolute majority, of the vote. The Virgin Islands is again not shown; it was among the states Rutherford won with more then 60% of the vote.
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%
Counties with Lowest Percent of Vote and Win
Rutherford
1. Greene County, Alabama (47.09%)
2. Nemaha County, Kansas (48.13%)
3. Dallas County, Alabama (48.32%)
4. Logan County, Nebraska (48.62%)
5. Lane County, Illinois (48.86%)
Leach
1. Josephine County, Oregon (46.56%)
2. Oglethrope County, Georgia (46.97%)
3. Hancock County, Indiana (47.13%)
4. Wayne County, Indiana (47.19%)
5. Curry County, New Mexico (48.05%)
Counties with Highest Percent of Vote and Lose
Rutherford
1. Hamilton County, New York (49.94%)
2. Venango County, Pennsylvania (49.93%)
3. Forrest County, Pennsylvania (49.91%)
4. Wyoming County, New York (49.90%)
5. Allegheny County, New York (49.86%)
Leach
1. Esmeralda County, Nevada (49.95%)
2. Madison County, Mississippi (49.91%)
3. Cedar County, Nebraska (49.84%)
4. Okaloosa County, Florida (49.83%)
5. Lamar County, Mississippi (49.81%)
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: 2,648 counties (81.75% 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 (18.25% of the total, worst Republican performance since Alf Landon in 1936)
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 FDR) 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. Overall, Rutherford won 52.61% of the vote in Nebraska. Though Nebraska was one of the three states where Leach won the majority of counties, Rutherford carried the state due to his overall congressional district performances, and by beating Leach in Douglas County (home to Omaha, Nebraska's largest city), Sarpy County, the state's third most populous, and Lancaster County, home to Lincoln, Nebraska's capital. He won Douglas 57%-43%, Sarpy 54%-46%, and Lancaster 53%-47%.
- 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. Moreover, Rutherford maintained the Democratic hold of the state's Native American reservations, carrying all twelve of them (particularly Pine Ridge). Throughout the country, Native Americans gave the President 63% of their votes, continuing their status as a firm constituency for the Democratic Party.
- 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 most of the counties in the state's western heartland and a number in the eastern regions. He won Sedgwick 52%-48% and Shawnee 54%-46%. Kansas, nevertheless, due to the Republican hold of Riley, Pottawatomie, Johnson, and Jefferson Counties, and of the counties along the northern border of the state (except for Nemaha County, which Rutherford won by a plurality of 48.13%), was one of the close states: the margin between Rutherford and Leach was 9.73%. 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 views. 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 (though narrowly, with 42 to Leach's 40); 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 (New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania). 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 general, Leach did not win a single county in New England; this was the first time since 1924 that all of the counties in the region were won by a single candidate. 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. Wayne, Venango, Forrest, Jefferson, and Indiana Counties were the only ones to remain loyal to Governor Leach; he won the first three 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. His county-level performance in Colorado was absolutely commanding, a testament of the President's native-son status, influence, and popularity in his home state. 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. Moreover, Rutherford was the first candidate since Warren G. Harding in 1920, and the first Democrat ever, to sweep all of Colorado's 64 counties. Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936, as well as LBJ in 1964, had come close to this feat, winning all but three of the state's counties in those elections. Rutherford dominated all of the state's demographic groups, with whites (64%), blacks (95%), Hispanics (76%), Native Americans (70%), and Other voters (62%) all giving him strong support.
- 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. Moreover, his number of absolute electoral votes (542) was the greatest ever for a candidate, outpacing Ronald Reagan's 1984 total by seventeen electoral votes. This was because there were ten more electoral votes to contest in 2064 then there had been eighty years earlier, due to the admission of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. 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 604 counties (18.64% 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 81.75% 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, 33% of Republicans crossed party-lines and voted to reelect President Rutherford. This was the highest level of cross-party defection which had been seen during the twenty-first century, and was comparable to 1984, when Ronald Reagan had won 26% 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 (64%-36%) and independents (61%-39%), 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. Notably, Rutherford was the first Democrat in more then two centuries to win Lane County. The last time the county had voted Democratic was in 1852, when it had gone for Franklin Pierce. Ogle and Edwards Counties, however, remained Republican, with the former never having voted Democratic, and the latter, not since 1832; it was not until 2076 before they would go Democratic, being won by Christopher A. Liu. 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 also had a clean county sweep in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Alaska; notably, his percentage of the vote in Alaska (66.35%) was the highest obtained by a candidate from either party there since 1984, when Ronald Reagan had won 66.70% against Mondale, and his percentage in Puerto Rico (66.14%) would be the highest obtained by either major-party candidate during the century. The victory in Alaska was significant, for it marked only the third time in the state's history that it had voted Democratic (following 1964 and 2044), and it was a landslide, as had been the initial win by LBJ. Moreover, this marked the first and only time in the century that a Republican did not win a single county from any of the non-mainland states.
- Rutherford maintained his status as 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. Rutherford got over 70% of the white vote in New England; 60% in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Colorado, and the West Coast; and 50% in the Mountain West and South. In Alabama, he won 41% of the white vote; in Mississippi, 38%.
- 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 72%; 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 69%.
- 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. Rutherford's victory in Kentucky marked the culmination of trends, ongoing since the election of 2028, which had swung the state back to the Democratic Party.
- As in 2060, Rutherford was the first Democrat since LBJ in 1964 to win Pershing, Humboldt, Elko, Esmeralda, Lincoln, Mineral, and Nye Counties in Nevada, all of which, before Rutherford's two elections, had voted Republican in every election since 1968. Moreover, he was the first Democrat since FDR in 1936 to win Douglas County. Nevada was won by Rutherford with 61.10% of the vote; he won 62% in Clark County and 59% in Washoe County, the two most populous counties in Nevada. This exemplified a trend across the country; as noted above, the President made substantial inroads into what had been Republican territory in the Mountain West, Midwest, and South before 2060.
- Notably, Rutherford carried all of the traditional "bellwether states" and "battleground states", as they had been in the first quarter of the century: Ohio, Florida, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, New Hampshire, Indiana, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Georgia. He won most of these states (except for Indiana, Arizona, and Georgia) with more than 60% of the vote. Rutherford was only the second candidate of the century to accomplish this feat, following Trump in 2020.
- Rutherford's victories in Arizona and Georgia, which were among the closer states of the election, deserve some note. Both of these states had been trending Democratic since the first decade of the century. In 2008 and 2012, Barack Obama had been especially competitive in Georgia, losing the state by 5.2% to John McCain and by 7.82% against Mitt Romney. In 2016, Hillary Clinton had also been competitive in Georgia, losing the state by just 5.1% to Donald Trump. Trump, however, had strengthened his performance in the Atlanta metropolitan area in his reelection of 2020, winning Georgia by a margin of 8.73%, and Marco Rubio carried the state, by a margin of 6.1%, in his own election of 2024. In 2028, thanks to demographic changes and to Rubio's overall unpopularity, Cory Booker finally managed to win the state for the Democrats, for the first time since 1992; he won Georgia by a margin of 1.15%. In his reelection of 2032, Booker won Georgia again, winning by a slightly larger margin of 2.21%. Georgia remained an intensively competitive state during the following three decades, all the way up to, and including, President Rutherford's two elections. Georgia voted Democratic from 2036-2048, and Republican in both 2052 and 2056. In 2036, Tulsi Gabbard carried the state by a extremely narrow margin of 0.23%; in 2040 and 2044, it was won by Joseph P. Kennedy III, by margins of 1.45% and 3.01%; and in 2048, Brandon Boyle won, by a margin of 0.83%.
- In 2052, Madelaine McAuliffe won, by a margin of 4.79%; four years later, her margin of victory decreased to 1.03%. In 2060, Rutherford had won the state against Vice-President Hughes by a margin of 2.11%. Now, in 2064, Georgia was won again by the President, by a much larger margin of 9.03%, the largest margin of victory there for either major party since George W. Bush won the state by double digits (16.6%) over John Kerry in 2004, exactly sixty years earlier. In addition to winning, by landslide margins, in Atlanta, Savannah, and a number of the Black Belt counties in the heart of the state, Rutherford also swept all of the suburban counties surrounding Atlanta, including Cobb, Gwinnett, DeKalb, Douglas, Caroll, Coweta, Clayton, and Henry, and the populous counties adjoining Savannah (Chatham County), such as Bryan, Liberty, McIntosh, Glynn, Camden, and Brantley. He thereby combined, in effect, Obama's Atlanta and Savannah strength with Clinton's strength in the suburbs of the Atlanta metropolitan area. Leach held on to only the traditionally Republican counties in the south-central and southwestern regions of the state.
- In Arizona, Rutherford, in addition to holding the heavily Hispanic La Paz, Yuma, Pima (home to Tuscon, the state's second largest city, and long a Democratic stronghold), Pinal, Santa Cruz, Graham, and Grenlee Counties, as well as the largely Native American Apache County, also won (51%-48%), the all-important (and majority-white) Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, the state's capital and most populous city. Maricopa County had foiled and tricked the Democrats for decades, last voting for them in 1948; in the period from 1952 to 2024, Democrats carried the state itself, only once: in Bill Clinton's narrow triumph of 1996. In 2016, Hillary Clinton had done better in Arizona then Obama, but still lost to Trump by a margin of 3.6%; Trump had won the state by a expanded margin of 7.25% in his reelection of 2020. In 2028, as with Georgia, Cory Booker finally won Arizona, carrying Maricopa by a margin of 1.90%, and Arizona by a margin of 1.25%. In 2032, he won the state again, by a larger margin of 2.75%. In 2036, it swung back to the Republicans, Sandoval beating Gabbard there by a margin of 2.79%. In 2040 and 2044, it had once again gone Democratic, Kennedy winning by margins of 1.75% and 3.41% in his two elections. In 2048, Arizona swung Republican yet again, going for Governor Charles Montgomery of Texas by a margin of 3.81%. Madelaine McAuliffe won the state, by a margin of 5.73%, in 2052, but lost it, by a squeaker of just 0.17%, to Charlotte Clinton in 2056. And in 2060, Arizona was one of Rutherford's closest wins; he prevailed there over Hughes by a margin of just 0.87%. In 2064, his margin of victory was 8.25%, due to the narrow margin of victory in Maricopa County, and the Republican hold of Coconino, Yavapai, and Navajo Counties, all of whom were far more populous by this time then they had been in 2016.
- Louisiana was also among the election's closest states. Rutherford delivered a commanding performance in the state's southeastern regions, with a large Catholic and African-American presence, and also carried a number of parishes through the central, more Protestant areas. He won by double digits in the Orleans Parish, beating Leach there by more than twenty percentage points, and in the East Baton Rouge Parish, prevailing by a margin of 14.7%. The President also carried the populous Ascension (51%-49%), Acadia (50%-49%), Evangeline (52%-47%), East Feliciana (51%-48%), Jefferson (54%-46%), Lafayette (51%-49%), Lafourche (55%-45%), Livingston (50%-49%), Rapide (56%-44%), and St. Tammany (51%-49%) Parishes. Leach, on his part, won by substantial margins in Washington (57-42%) and Vernon (59%-39%) Parishes, beat Rutherford, by a margin of 14.5%, in the populous Calcasieu Parish, and also won the populous Caddo (55%-45%), Bossier (53%-47%), and Beauregard (52%-48%) Parishes. In the end, Rutherford won 53.54% of the vote in Louisiana, and beat Leach by a margin of 7.36%. This marked the sixth victory for the Democratic Party in the state of the twenty-first century. The first had been in 2032, when Cory Booker had prevailed over Ted Cruz by a margin of 1.02%, thanks to Orleans, Jefferson, and East Baton Rouge Parishes. That had been the first time since 1996 that Democrats carried the state.
- 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 (Donald Trump had fallen short of this in 2020, winning New Mexico and Maine with pluralities, not absolute majorities, of the vote). 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.
- Rutherford's percentage of the popular vote (66.05%) was the highest in American electoral history, since the beginning of the present system in 1820. He surpassed the percentage won by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 (61.05%), Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936 (60.80%), Richard M. Nixon in 1972 (60.67%), and Warren G. Harding in 1920 (60.32%). In accordance with this, Rutherford received the absolute highest number of votes ever for a presidential candidate: 198,180,000 (198.1 million) votes. This was greater than the entire vote cast in each individual election from 1820 to 2060. Leach, on his part, did receive a record number of votes for a losing presidential candidate: 101,102,000 (101.1 million votes). The gap between Rutherford and Leach was an astonishing 97,078,000 (97.0 million) votes. The President's votes were drawn from metropolitan areas, suburbs, small towns, and rural areas in their measure. He won 67% of the urban vote; 61% of the suburban vote; 59% of the small and mid-sized vote; and 56% of the rural vote.