1912 United States presidential election

The 1912 United States presidential election was held on Tuesday November 5th, 1912. Progressive former Vice President Nelson F. Edwards defeated the candidates of the fragmented Federalist Party, which had split into the traditional Federalist Party and the National Republican breakaway party, led by Senator Joseph A. Robinson, who became the National Republican nominee for the election. Robinson's popularity propelled the National Republicans to national attention and ultimately granted them second place in the election. The Federalist party nominated incumbent Vice President Vincent I. Sangster, who was considered unremarkable and ultimately finished in third place. The election is considered one of the largest political upsets in Vesperian history, along with the elections of 1816, 1868 and 1916, as Edwards won the presidency utlimately due to the fact that the National Republicans and Federalists acted as spoilers for one another. This is the most recent election to lead to the runner-up candidate not being from a party of the two-party system, which shows the primacy of the Federalist and Progressive parties in Vesperian politics. The election also had a larger showing for other candidates who otherwise received little attention, showing the increasing dissatisfaction amongst the populace with the three front-runner candidates.

This election was considered one of the most monumental in Vesperian history. As a result of the Federalist schism, an unprecedented strong third party performance was seen, which gave some hope to those in Vesperian politics who hoped for the two-party system to end and for greater opportunity to be given to third parties which run in elections. This hope was ultimately dashed by the collapse of the National Republican Party following the election. The election also saw the weakest ever performance for the Federalist Party, and the strongest electoral vote performance for the Progressive Party so far. The popular vote showed a far more divided picture, however - only 43.1% of the vote had gone to the Progressives, while 33.5% went to the National Republicans, and 18.8% went to the Federalists. This election once again brought out the calls from some to reform the Vesperian political system, though these would also ultimately come to nothing. The split in the Federalist Party would be healed in the 1916 election, which saw them rally together once again and come back for one of their strongest ever electoral performances, unseating President Edwards with 220 electoral votes to his 82. Progressive success in the election of 1912 is, by political analysts, considered a fluke.

Progressive Party
Progressive candidates:


 * Nelson F. Edwards, former Vice President of the United States (became nominee)
 * Colin F. Scott, US Representative for Stancomia's 7th district (became vice presidential nominee)
 * Thomas P. Travers, Governor of Pencia (defeated at national convention)
 * Charles W. Carter, US Senator from Notonia (withdrew during primaries)
 * Isaac L. Wyatt, Mayor of Kewich (withdrew before primaries)

National Convention
The Progressive National Convention was held in Mitnester, Pencia, from June 26th until June 29th. This national convention, in comparison to that of the Federalists, was fairly standard. By the time of the convention, Vice President Edwards was leading by a large margin in delegate count, though he still lacked the required amount to become the nominee. On the third day of the convention, a deal was struck between Edwards and Congressman Colin F. Scott, also a candidate for the nomination, who tipped the scales in favour of Edwards. On June 29th, the final vote confirmed Edwards as the Progressive nominee for president, and also confirmed Scott as the Progressive nominee for vice president.

Federalist Party
Federalist candidates:


 * Vincent I. Sangster, incumbent Vice President of the United States (became nominee)
 * Christopher D. Hawkins, incumbent President of the United States (withdrew before primaries)
 * Raymond C. Martland, Speaker of the House of Representatives (became vice presidential nominee)
 * Joseph A. Robinson, US Senator from Camridia (defeated at national convention)
 * Walter T. Thompson, former Vice President of the United States (withdrew during primaries)
 * Frederick R. Hamilton, Governor of Totford (withdrew before primaries)

National Convention
The Federalist National Convention was held in Presham, Totford, from June 12th until June 21st. The convention was immediately an extremely divided and contentious affair. Incumbent President Christopher D. Hawkins had briefly considered running for a third term, though had ultimately decided to withdraw from the race for the Federalist nomination. He had thrown his support behind incumbent Vice President Vincent I. Sangster, who despite his personal shortcomings, began to receive support amongst the Federalist establishment. Meanwhile, Senator Joseph A. Robinson and Congressman Walter T. Thompson had began to form something of a voting bloc, with the understanding being that Robinson would become the presidential nominee on their ticket while Thompson would become the vice presidential nominee. Robinson and Thompson represented the liberal, moderate wing of the Federalist Party, while Sangster was seen to represent the further-right of the party. Raymond C. Martland, Speaker of the House of Representatives, was the favourite to become Sangster's running mate, and was also considered a problematic choice as a result of his ideology, being very similar to Sangster and President Hawkins.

Ultimately, the dispute over the nomination came down to a brutal personal conflict - the deeply personal conflict between President Hawkins and Senator Robinson had been well known in Vesperian politics, and it was considered almost an open secret that should Sangster become president, Hawkins would retain a huge behind-the-scenes influence over the workings of government. As a result, throughout the primary, Robinson launched scathing attacks against the Hawkins administration, including Vice President Sangster. His attempts to draw forth delegates ultimately failed, as the Federalist establishment were entirely opposed to someone like Robinson unseating the Vice President of the United States and obtaining the nomination for himself. The establishment had, by this point, tipped the scales in favour of Sangster. However, many of these liberal Federalists rallied around Robinson, who had been seen as a pioneer of the centrist movement in the Federalist Party and promoted sweeping social reforms. As the national committee utlimately selected Sangster and Martland for the Federalist ticket, Robinson and his liberal Federalists left the convention in protest, and began to make plans to set up a new convention - and a new political party.

National Republicans
National Republican candidate:


 * Joseph A. Robinson, US Senator from Camridia (became nominee)

National Convention
The National Republican Convention was held in Whitbury, Birmouth, from July 2nd until July 4th. The National Republicans had been born out of the schism in the Federalist Party, and comprised much of the anti-establishment, liberal wing of the Federalist Party. They had rallied around Senator Joseph A. Robinson, their favourite to receive the Federalist nomination in opposition to Vice President Vincent I. Sangster. As the Federalist convention had been stacked against them, and Sangster received the Federalist nomination, these liberal Federalists decided to boycott the Federalist National Convention entirely, leaving in protest. They instead scheduled their own national convention to take place after the Progressive convention. The National Republican Convention was unanimous from the beginning - Robinson was to be their presidential nominee and Thompson was to be their vice presidential nominee. Therefore, the majority of the convention was spent debating party platform and how best to be an effective opposition to both the Federalists and the Progressives. As a result, on July 4th, the National Republicans voted to make Robinson their nominee, with Thompson as his running mate.

Results by state
WIP