The Last Election [9781636141503]

Overview

“In former presidential candidate Yang’s first novel, doomsday looms for American democracy in the months leading up to the 2024 election . . . zinging broadsides make for lively and unsettling reading.” —Kirkus Reviews

The Last Election is a unique political thriller about an outlandish yet frighteningly possible—even probable—scenario in America’s near future, during the crucial 2024 presidential election. Though it is fiction, it is informed by Andrew Yang’s insider’s view from his run deep into the Democratic primaries in 2020. It is also a wake-up call to an America tearing itself apart.

The story focuses on two characters: Mikey Ricci, a political operative who has lost faith in the system, and Martha Kass, a journalist for the New York Times. In 2023, Ricci becomes the campaign manager of a third-party candidate who runs on a popular, centrist platform and whose frank and honest manner begins to gain ground. As it begins to appear that Ricci’s candidate might win enough electoral votes to upset the delicate balance of America’s two-party system, Kass stumbles upon a plot by the current Joint Chiefs of Staff to seize power in the anticipated chaos of the coming election.

Events unfold at the frenetic pace of the campaign trail, and as the electoral totals are tallied, it becomes more and more evident that no one will accrue the coveted majority of 270 electoral votes. If this happens, who wins? Will the electoral system collapse? What is Congress’s role in certification, and how will congressional leaders behave with their unprecedented individual power?

Will the American experiment end?