The
2141 Xanadu premier election was the first election to take place after the end of the 2137 Xanadu Sexual Revolution and the 2138 Xanadu Population Readjustment Act, which saw the U.S. government offer citizenship to hundreds of thousands of Xanadu centaurs following American annexation of the central First Nation reserves. Republican Premier Danielle Ordonez was mildly popular, with her approval rating resting somewhere between 40% to 45% during much of her first term. Despite this milding popularity, there were no serious challengers for the Republican nomination, and she and Deputy Premier Benton J. Porter were re-nominated by acclimation at the Republican convention.
Rancher John Lyman Sears managed to clear the Democratic field early, as many potential candidates--like former Xanadu Land Commissioner Avram Rivera and Shangri-La Governor Tim Huddleston--declined to run following his summer 2140 announcement. Sears' announcement came 20 years to the date of the 2120 Democratic National Convention where he was nominated for President by the Democratic Party. His return to politics was unsurprising, as there'd been a draft movement for the 2137 premier nomination and he'd become involved heavily in territorial politics in South Xanadu Territory. His only serious challenger was Sagittarius State Senator Helen Gonzalez who ran from Sears' left, but she dropped out in early 2141 before the convention. It was widely reported that Sears intended to nominate Barasses State Senator Hyale King as his running mate, allowing her to become the first centaur nominated for a major party ticket in xanadu. King was supported by the left-wing of the Democratic Party and by the rising new centaur power base. But Sears was already controversial to his own adopted centaur daughters, and after being pressured by Columbia's Light, Sears instead chose Alf Butler of Montezuma, the President of the Xanaud section of the International Longshoreman's Association, as his running mate.
Despite the nation-wide attention drawn to the race because of Jack Sears, the election was a quiet and uneventful campaign. Ordonez had been popular early in her term as the Xanadu Sexual Revolution was put down, but had accomplished little as Congress and the Commonwealth Planning Commission was dominated by Democrats and the AFL-CIO. Congress doubled down on Equalis subsidies, and the federal government began testing centaur artificial wombs. The Xanadu chapter of the John Birch System claimed that the federal government and the Ordonez administration were conspiring to attempted gendercide against centaur males (though the sexual revolution had seen most American humans become extremely sympathetic to female centaurs). With Ordonez's milding popularity, Sears took advantage of his own personal popularity and charm and managed to outspend the Ordonez campaign, $200 million to $110 million. In November, Sears cruised to a 10 point victory over Ordonez, while the Democrats managed to expand their majorities in the Commonwealth House and Senate (gaining slim supermajorities in both houses). Sears managed to win more than 95% of the centaur vote.
-*-*-*-
The 2143 Barasses gubernatorial election was the second post-statehood gubernatorial election following the annexation of Barasses in 2138. Following John Lyman Sears's victory in the 2141 premier election, it was expected that State Senator Hyale King would receive a cabinet position in the Sears administration. It was reported that she'd been offered the Attorney General position but turned it down, instead focusing on the Barasses gubernatorial election in 2143. Following annexation, the native Barasses political spectrum had begun to align according to traditional American lines, but with a very strong Democratic streak.
Hyale King challenged incumbent Governor Nechiore King, who was an older half-sister of Hyale, for the Democratic nomination. The two King sisters were quickly joined by Barasses Public Service Commissioner Aggemyn Cooper and State Representative Bolbe White (both centaurs) and Sheriff Guselle da-Letan of Myslen County (an orc). The campaign was fast, spirited and sometimes rife with violence. H. King took advantage of the new television and radio stations in Barasses, running on a platform of public works, rural electricity and expanded education. N. King ran a more conservative campaign, attacking H. King's role in the 2137 Sexual Revolution and her plural marriage with Jacoby Hoyt (a human) and Calla Kearse (a centaur, but of questionable age). The other three candidates ran behind the King sisters. Da-Letan shored up the small but vocal orcish and human minorities, and Cooper ran on a very populist anti-corruption campaign. After the first round, nobody was surprised when the King sisters finished in the top two, with da-Letan finishing third and Cooper and White finishing in the top five.
The runoff was held just two weeks later in a rapid, whirlwind campaign as H. King raced across Barasses and N. King playing it more safe. H. King began to attract large numbers of human settler votes, particularly after she was endorsed by da-Letan (neither Cooper or White made endorsements, insteading playing it safe and hoping to be chosen as the winner's runnign mate) and as her husband, Jacoby Hoyt, went on a seperate whistlestop tour of Barasses. H. King won the run off by only 1,400 votes, which was immediately challenged by N. King, who alleged voter fraud and intimidation. After weeks of legal arguments, the Supreme Court of Xanadu named Hyale King the winner of the runoff election.
In the general election, Hyale King faced off against Republican Alex Morrison, a school teacher and member of the John Birch Society who ran on a radical right campaign. King had considered running as an independent but decided against it. She endorsed her half-sister for governor, though she only appeared at one campaign rally for Hyale. H. King selected neither Cooper nor White as her running mate, instead naming Menalesid Blackamn, the Superintendent of the Barasses Board of Education. The election was never in doubt, and H. King won handidly in an election with low turnout.
2133
2137