Michael Sanchez, Mary McClintok
Despite enjoying comfortable majorities in both houses of
Congress, the
Democrats are facing a crossroads. The economic slowdown of the past year has resulted in President
Alec Reed and the Democratic congress facing steep decline in approval rating. With the Democrats on track for at least losing the House, a broader struggle within the party has emerged over its direction post-Reed. The sitting president has attempted to maintain power with a foot in both the moderate and Longist camps, pleasing neither. As the primaries shape up, two, relatively young candidates emerge on opposite ends of a widening chasm. Only time will tell if the victor leads the traditional party of power to success or simply manage the decline.
Michael Enrique Sanchez was born on June 12, 1969 in Fresno, California to an upcoming middle class hispanic family. In the late 1980's, he attended
Stanford University, graduating with a bachelor's in political science. In the 1990's, he began teaching at a local community college in Sacramento while acting as a political activist for the California Democratic Party. In 2002, he became the youngest mayor in Sacramento's history, having won on a platform of making Sacramento a more business-friendly city and using new revenue to fund much needed social services. Despite the brevity of his term, he proved to be very popular, landing him the sixth congressional district seat for California in 2004. Having spent nearly a decade in Congress, he ran for governor, unseating the deeply unpopular
Alliance governor
Karl Schumer. He's proven to be very popular, attempting to maintain a delicate balance between business interests and a generous welfare state.
Sanchez hails from the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, a group which grew in strength following the popular presidency of
Helen Marshall in the late 80's and early 90's. This group seeks to encourage economic growth and social liberalism, moving away from the more religious base that made up the Long coalition. As such, Sanchez's relationship with the Longist wing of the party has been strained at best. The
Share Our Wealth Society notably declined to endorse him in his reelection bid in 2018, a move which proved embarrassing when Sanchez won in a landslide. His supporters have touted him as a consensus figure able to cross the aisle to achieve common sense solutions, as he has during his tenure as governor. However, Sanchez is not without his flaws. His relaxed style has led to a number of gaffs, including those of a sexual nature. While many of his supporters believe that Sanchez is still the most electorally viable candidate to go against the relatively popular
Andrew Davis next year, his shrinking lead in the weeks leading up to next year's primary demonstrates the uphill battle that still lays ahead for him.
Mary Elinor Lind McClintok, born in 1980 in Waco Texas, has the potential of being the youngest elected President of the United States at forty-years of age. Like her main rival, McClintok enjoyed a rapid rise in prominence. Hailing from a devoutly Baptist (and Longist) household, she attended
Baylor University, graduating with a degree pre-law before going on to graduate with a juris doctorate from
Harvard. She served as a lawyer for the Share Our Wealth Society, which later saw her becoming Solicitor General for almost a year during Reed's first term in office. She left her position in order to run for the Senate to replace the old Alliance stalwart
Bob Ewing, and enjoyed the full support of the Share Our Wealth Society. Recently, she has decline to run for another term, instead focusing on her campaign for president.
McClintok appeals mainly to the religious, diehard Longist wing of the Democratic Party which is skeptical of economic liberalism and opposes proposed privitzation schemes of the railroads or hospitals. Her passionate, and sometimes fiery oratory has often resulted in her speeches going viral on websites such as
INTV and other social media sites. She has also amounted a sizable cult following among younger Share Our Wealth activists. However, this has also resulted in a fairly large "hate-following," being mocked by Alliance supporters. Some Democrats fear that her controversial methods may turn off potential swing voters. Nevertheless, she continues to appeal to a wing of the party that feels betrayed by the moderation of Reed and distrustful of the "wobbliness" of Sanchez. She finds herself catching up to Sanchez, and may even overtake him. Whether or not she is able to save both Longism AND the Democratic Party remains to be seen.