Congress and elections

A presidency holds two elections in a standard four-year term: a midterm election partway through, and the President's re-election near the end. Both are decided by how the country has reacted to the President over the whole term, drawn from the monthly focus-group reactions recorded both while governing and while campaigning.

The exact timing depends on when the term begins. A term that starts in an ordinary year holds its midterm about two years in and its re-election near the end of the fourth year, with a short run of televised debates beforehand. A term that starts in an election year, such as a scenario beginning partway through a real presidential race, holds its first election sooner to match. A President who wins re-election serves a further term with its own midterm and, ordinarily, no further presidential election, unless the 22nd Amendment has been repealed by special action, in which case a further campaign becomes possible. A President who loses re-election leaves office when the term ends.

During the campaign season, each month opens with a campaign event instead of, or alongside, the ordinary policy, drawn from the era's own pool of campaign material, and a debate is held in place of that event in a debate month. On a premium modern-era campaign, the President also chooses a communications manager and writes a manifesto, which then decides what further campaign events, if any, still appear. Reactions collected on the campaign trail count for less than reactions collected while actually governing, because a pledge is treated less seriously than an action already taken.

The setup screen offers two ways to run an election. The Classic mode judges every state on its own, weighing that state's own persona reactions, its usual lean toward one party, and the national mood, and sums the electoral votes state by state; 270 electoral votes wins the presidency, and a tied result is settled in favour of whichever party controls the House. The Alternative mode is simpler: every state, and the whole of Congress, is decided almost entirely by the President's national approval rating, and the setup screen recommends it to players who find the standard mode too complicated.

Congress is elected alongside the President, seat by seat where the game holds the detail to do so, and by a broader swing where it does not. Each state and district carries its own lean toward one party, which pulls its result in that direction regardless of how the term has gone. The new Congress produced by an election is the one the following month's Checks and balances has to work with, and Difficulty governs how harshly the game treats a midterm and an incumbent.