Xanadu premier election, 2133 (A Jovian Night's Dream)
Democrat Melissa Oritz was renominated for a third term in 2133 after easily cruising to reelection for a second term in 2129. However, a lagging economy and ongoing centaur raids along the frontier have caused her approval ratings to sag. There was some speculation that former Xanadu Attorney-General Natalie Cho or Hyannis Port Mayor Avram Rivera would challenge Ortiz for the Democratic nomination, but Ortiz dumped incumbent Deputy Premier Jim Hollis for Cho while Rivera ran for Xanadu Land Commissioner.
The Republican primary was hotly contested between Commonwealth Senator Samantha Pollian of Minos and rancher Sweeney Hull of Thubbes. Hull ran a mostly self-funded campaign, tacking hard to the right socially against Pollian. However, at the convention, Hull was forced out by the party bosses who thought that Hull was too controversial to win. Pollian selected former U.S. Representative Terrance Goldsmith as her running mate, while Hull dropped out to run on an independent ticket with controversial Khan City attorney Julianne Billick as his running mate. Columbia's Light (a fundamentalist Columbianist party) once again nominated Montezuma State Senator John Ray Turner for premier, who tabbed retired Minuteman General Elizabeth O'Connor as his running mate. The American Heroes Party and the Our America Party both endorsed Ortiz for premier, though many prominent members of both also ran on the Columbia's Light line and supported Turner over Ortiz.
Ortiz and Pollian ran similar campaigns, stressing their candidate's qualities over actual issues. However, Pollian--who'd been a hedge fund manager before being elected to the Commonwealth Senate--was largely seen as being stuffy and elitist. As usual, Turner and Columbia's Light ran hard on opening up settlement and restricting aborigine rights. Hull and Billick ran a stringent social conservative campaign, campaigning for lower taxes, smaller government and lower immigrant quotas. Many commentators labeled the Hull/Billick campaign as racist, but they tapped into a small, far-right voting bloc who was opposed to government and felt threatened by outsiders--many of whom were Christian and opposed to Columbianism. In the end, Ortiz managed to eek out a victory over her opponents, with Hull and Turner polling votes from both major candidates.