(Based on an election game on alternatehistory.com – Account required to view)

What if top-tier candidates on both sides had decided not to run in 2016 and fictional candidates took their place? That is the premise of this scenario which is based on a President Infinity inspired election game on alternatehistory.com.

Will the progressive firebrand Angie Bennett pull off an upset to claim the Democratic nomination or will the establishment-favorites Katy Thompson and James Johnson romp to victory instead? Can the libertarian Democrat Carl Cisco Rutter use his charisma and telegenic appearance to move the party in a new direction and become the first gay president or will his campaign fail to gain steam because he bucks liberal orthodoxy on many issues? Is there any hope for the eccentric Governor of South Carolina Cornelius Benjamin Kennard to revive the party’s hopes in the South or will he simply act as a spoiler to Johnson and the liberal, black Governor of Missouri Martin Walker? Can Anderson and the Elliot Express sweep to an overwhelming victory in the Democratic primaries or is he doomed to failure?  Do any of the lesser known candidates – Lopez, Maxson, and Turner – have any chance to break out and claim the nomination for themselves? And what if Steven Prentice Hart remained in the race, can he become the Democrat’s Reagan and usher in a left-wing, populist takeover of the party?

Can the House Majority Leader and staunch cultural warrior Francisco Juarez bring together evangelical Protestants and Catholics to win the GOP nomination or will he be foiled by the bombastic conservative David McIntosh, a member of the Freedom Caucus? Will neoconservative darling and McCain ally Kathleen Fairchild be able to follow in his footsteps and be the first woman to be nominated by the Republican Party or will the popular Admiral Kelsey Gormley stop her in her tracks and be the first general nominated by a major party since Eisenhower? Can Roy Buehler carve out a place for himself as a palatable moderate conservative and outspoken advocate for right-to-work or has the GOP base soured on nominating yet another moderate? Can former SNL writer and now Rhode Island Governor Charles Schroder win over GOP voters with his brand of libertarianism or will his “coastal elitist” image doom his campaign? And what of the outsiders Coxey and Zakharov – can they ride dissatisfaction with the Washington establishment to victory in the primaries or are their unorthodox positions too much for the Republican base to tolerate? What if Kasey Sungbean ran for president instead of challenging Steven Prentice Hart for CA Senate – can centrism appeal to the modern Republican Party?

Featuring:

Democrats

Gov. Katy Thompson (D-MN) – Second-rate Hillary Clinton

Sen. James Johnson (D-FL) – Bisexual Bill Nelson

Sen. Angie Bennett (D-PA) – Rust Belt Elizabeth Warren

Rep. Jack Turner (D-LA) – Heir to Jesse Jackson

Rep. Edward Maxson (D-OH) – Midwestern Populist

Sen. Carl Cisco Rutter (D-OR) – Proto-Buttigieg

Fmr. Attorney General Antonio James Lopez (D-CA) – Castro 2016

Gov. Martin Walker (D-MO) – Corrupt New Dealer

Gov. Cornelius Benjamin Kennard (D-SC) – Kooky Bryan Cranston

Sen. Steven Prentice Hart (D-CA) – Steve Buscemi’s Doppelganger

Fmr. Gov. Elliot Anderson (D-MT) – The Elliot Express

Republicans

House Majority Leader Francisco Juarez (R-CA) – Catholic Conservative

Gov. Roy Buehler (R-MI) – Fat Rick Snyder

Sen. Kathleen Fairchild (R-OH) – Neoconservative Queen

Adm. Kelsey F. Gormley (R-WY) – #MeToo Eisenhower

Gov. Charles Schroder (R-RI) – SNL Conservative

Sen. David McIntosh (R-AL) – Closeted Segregationist

Businessman Edmund Coxey (R-MD) – Not!Trump

Fmr. Gov. Maxime Zakharov (R-AK) – Russian Interference

(What-If)

Businessman Kasey Sungbean (R-CA) – Centrist Republican

Race to the White House – 2016