Highlights from the '73: YotFP Timeline
Reagan and Carter were soon neck and neck in the polls, as well as equally matched on the debate room floor. Both represented change that the United States was desperately looking for, but in two radically different ways. Reagan earned broad appeal due to Schweiker's liberal Republican credentials, while Carter had the advantage of a struggling economy and a sudden switch in candidates. Unfortunately, the nightmarish uncertainty that had been lingering since the assassination of Richard Nixon reared its ugly head once again on election night.
Carter won Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Reagan won Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming. The electoral college was thus tied with 269 to 269 votes while Reagan had won the popular vote by 0.6%.
There were no faithless electors, as all of them feared the potential crisis that could arise from shifting their votes, and thus it was up to the 95th Congress to decide who would be President and Vice President. The Democratic majorities in both houses voted as expected on January 6th, as the House of Representatives elected Carter and the Senate elected Mondale. On January 20th 1977, James Earl Carter became the 41st President of the United States, the fourth in a row to come into office without winning the Presidential election proper.
