On Saturday 18 March 2017 the 150 million strong electorate of the Commonwealth of Grand Britainnia will go to the polls to choose their next President. Will incumbent Richard Trump of the Conservatives be re-elected for a second term or will the challenger from the Democratic Party succeed in driving him out of the White House?
Before the general election campaign gets underway, however, there must come the primaries to decide the candidates for each party. The Democrats and the Liberals unsurprisingly have a field of candidates, but this year so does the ruling Conservative Party which came as a surprise for many who thought President Trump would face no challengers in the primary elections.
There are thirty individual primary races for each party, one in each of the states. The candidates in each of the primaries seek to reach a majority of the delegates up for grabs in order to secure their party's nomination. All of the primaries take place this week, 10 on Monday, 10 on Wednesday and 10 on Friday. Next week the party conventions take place in which the candidates will be officially nominated. Once those are over the real campaign begins and the countdown begins to the 18th March.
Conservative Party Primaries
Candidates:
- President Richard Trump
- Representative Jim Wolfe
- Senator Jackie Brown
President Richard Trump (70) - Trump is a social and fiscal conservative who believes in protecting the nation's borders and interests. He won his first ever election in 2013 after winning 326 electoral votes and 48% of the popular vote in the presidential election. In this election cycle he has promised that he will introduce even tighter restrictions on immigration, introducing a work permit system that bans immigrants from coming to the Commonwealth without a job to come to so they do not come here and drain the resources of the nation by claiming welfare. He continues to work to bring down the deficit by cutting government spending and raising a few select taxes. He pledges to cut corporation tax from 20% to 15% and he pledged to restructure the whole social security network and health care system.
Representative Jim Wolfe (57) - Wolfe is also a social conservative and believes in investing £300 billion into a new jobs scheme that will focus on creating millions of new jobs by starting new infrastructure projects, increasing the size of the military and providing incentives to the private sector to create more jobs and move jobs from overseas to the Commonwealth. He has pledged to cut the rate of income tax for lower earners and to federal slash sales taxes in half.
Senator Jackie Brown (44) - Brown is the only women to be contesting the Conservative nomination. She does not believe in social conservatism and has pledged to introduce a bill to legalise same-sex marriages across the country within her first 100 days and not hold a referendum as many would expect to happen on a issue like this. She also pledged to allow women to serve on the front line and to increase the amount of free childcare the parents can get for their child.
Democratic Party Primaries
Candidates:
- Senator Dorothy Clinton
- Governor Bernie Howell
- Governor Martin Simpson
Senator Dorothy Clinton (69) - Clinton is the only women contesting the Democratic nomination. As a former First Lady of Georgia and a Senator for Virginia for the past 20 years, as well as having run for the nomination in 2005, she has plenty of experience. She has pledged to abolish tuition fees for in-state students at public colleges. She has also pledged comprehensive reform of the immigration system that creates a path to citizenship so that families can stay together. She has also promised to reform healthcare and look into introducing a form of universal health care system. Campaign funding reform, closing the gender pay gap, freezing taxes on the middle class and an increased minimum wage are all priorities for her.
Governor Bernie Howell (72) - Howell has been Governor of Vermont for the past 8 years and whilst eligible to run for a third and final term he has turned his attention to the presidential race instead. He has pledged to tackle wealth inequality, raise taxes on the wealthiest and he has pledged to create a £750 billion infrastructure investment fund. He also wants to introduce a single-payer universal health care system. He also pledges to make abortions legal across the nation and legalise same-sex marriage without a referendum. He has also advocated for companies to provide workers with paid parental leave, sick leave and holiday time.
Governor Martin Simpson (51) - Simpson has been Governor of California for the past 5 years having taken over when his predecessor stepped down the year before the 2013 gubernatorial election. He wants to introduce tax reductions and regulatory reforms to help create jobs and he wants to increase taxes on the highest earners to compensate for increased government funding. He supports same-sex marriage being legalised with a referendum and he supports the legalisation of cannabis. He wants an income based college loan repayment plan for all students and he wants to introduce a living wage and increase retirement benefits.
Liberal Party Primaries
Candidates:
- Norman Clegg
- Nicholas Lamb
Norman Clegg (47) - Clegg was the Liberal's candidate in the 2013 election and helped them secure their best vote share since the election in 1973. He wants to the increase the personal tax free allowance, increase the education budget and increase health spending. He wants to double spending on mental health services and balance the budget by the end of his presidency. He also wants to increase a series of laws to protect nature and fight climate change.
Nicholas Lamb (58) - Lamb wants to build a 21st century economy that can compete globally, as well as invest in public services like schools and hospitals. He wants to change the voting system for both houses of Congress and the presidency, as well as lowering the voting age to 16 and reform campaign financing. He also wants to abolish air passenger duty and abolish the spare room subsidy, also known as the 'bedroom tax'.
Schedule:
Monday 23 January 2017
Virginia
Maine
Minnesota
California
Oregon
Washington
West Virginia
Arizona
Colorado
Texas
Wednesday 25 January 2017
New York
Alabama
Arkansas
Louisiana
Missouri
Illinois
Wisconsin
Michigan
Pennsylvania
Ohio
Friday 27 January 2017
Indiana
Tennessee
Iowa
Georgia
South Carolina
North Carolina
Florida
Vermont
Maryland
Capital District (Canberra)