AHC: "ordinary" house congressman/woman elected directly to president of United States post-1945

RousseauX

Donor
In the 20th century the senate and governorships have being the ground from which presidents come from. A couple of ranking house members (gingrich/gerald ford/paul ryan) were considered for the presidency at some point but none succeeded in actually being elected. Ordinary congressman seem to have a lot of trouble getting the nomination let along winning the general election.

What would it take for a representative who isn't house speaker or one of the party leaders in the house to successfully run a campaign to become president? Who is best to do it in the last 70 years or so?
 
If Reagan didn't run in 1980, his supporters might coalesce around Jack Kemp. (Or--if Kemp doesn't run--maybe even Phil Crane, who did run in OTL, portraying himself as a younger Reagan, but got nowhere because conservatives were satisfied with the actual Reagan.)

If for some reason, GW Bush isn't available in 2000, John Kasich is a possibility. (I don't know whether being Chairman of the Budget Committee would make him a "party leader" in your sense. In any event, he would argue that he, not Bill Clinton, was responsible for finally getting a balanced budget.) His efforts in OTL in 1999 came to nothing, but that was largely because the GOP Establishment had settled on Bush.

For the Democrats, of course there is Mo Udall in 1976.
 
Shirley Chisolm does better in 72, McGovern loses nomination.

Nixon nominates intolerable canddiates to replace Agnew.

Congress passes law for special eleciton in teh event of a double vacancy

Unbought unbossed Chisolm wins nomination and election
 
The problem for most congressperson is the lack of access to a large political organizatiototo run and finance a presidential campaign.
When Ohio had an At-Large Representative they could have run for President.
Another problem is with the congressional term is two years and now days of takes almost from the day after previous Presidential election to start running for President, it makes the Congressperson vulnerable to be challenged in the next Mid Terms election either from the other party or a primary opponent.I
If the Congressperson comes from an "Ultra Safe" district, then most likely they are from the most extreme wing of their respective party and they do not have support from the party centrists that is necessary to win the nomination.
 
. . . Nixon nominates intolerable canddiates to replace Agnew.

Congress passes law for special eleciton in teh event of a double vacancy . . .
A little close but I think it does meet Constitutional muster.

United States Constitution

Article II


https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii

“ . . He shall hold his office during the term of four years, . . ”

“ . . . The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States. . . ”
In several cases, the Constitution is very matter-of-fact about removing a president through impeachment AND conviction. So, if there’s neither a president nor a vice-president, I think it’s right and proper for both Houses of Congress to act on their Constutional power and “determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day . . ”

In fact, I think that’s preferable than Democratic House Speaker Carl Albert becoming President, when the voters elected Republican Richard Nixon by 61% majority in 1972.

So, I’m thinking somewhere between two months and five months for the parties to get their act together and nominate a candidate, maybe holding primaries in a sampling of states, something like that. (Note to friends in UK: a presidential system of democracy is quite a bit slower in this regard.)

And Speaker Albert makes it clear that he’s merely going to act as a care-taker president for these few couple of months.
 
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A very obvious difficulty with Carl Albert as even an interim president is his problems with the bottle...
 
You'd probably need someone who has built a reputation beyond their influence as a congressperson. Off the top of my head here some spitballing on possibilities:

-Democratic party veers left and Kuchnich gets nominated in 2004 and then some kind of huge scandal hits Bush in the spring.
-Geraldine Ferraro's nomination actually gives Mondale's campaign some momentum and she uses it as a springboard to run in 1988.
-Congressman Barack Obama, who beat Bobby Rush in 2000, uses a knockout 2004 convention speech to run in 2008.
 
Rush Holt (D)
Jack Kemp (R)
George Bush (R)
Dick Gephardt (D)
Dick Cheney (R)
Gerald Ford (R)
Donald Rumsfeld (R)
Harold Ford (D)
Helen Bentley (R)
Newt Gingrich (R)
Tom DeLay (R)
Dick Armey (R)
Michael Mansfield (D)
Chuck Halleck (R)
Ron Paul (R) and/or (L)
Dennis Kucinich (D)
Duncan Hunter (R)
Ron Dellums (D)
Shirley Chisholm (D)
Geraldine Ferraro (R)
 

samcster94

Banned
Does
If Reagan didn't run in 1980, his supporters might coalesce around Jack Kemp. (Or--if Kemp doesn't run--maybe even Phil Crane, who did run in OTL, portraying himself as a younger Reagan, but got nowhere because conservatives were satisfied with the actual Reagan.)

If for some reason, GW Bush isn't available in 2000, John Kasich is a possibility. (I don't know whether being Chairman of the Budget Committee would make him a "party leader" in your sense. In any event, he would argue that he, not Bill Clinton, was responsible for finally getting a balanced budget.) His efforts in OTL in 1999 came to nothing, but that was largely because the GOP Establishment had settled on Bush.

For the Democrats, of course there is Mo Udall in 1976.
Jack Kemp seems to be someone who could have at least been nominated for President, especially in the 90's. He did get to be a running mate tbf.
 
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