rdfs:comment
| - The November 6, 1984 Congressional elections were the first such election in the Republic, and only one political party was able to organize in time to compete. As a result, many of the candidates were non-partisan, or ran unopposed. House districts were also only very roughly drawn at the time, with better districts to be drawn up the next year. The majority of those elected had only held positions at the county or municipal level prior to Doomsday. The election was very local - many of the candidates never left their homes to do any campaigning, or at least their town of residence.
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abstract
| - The November 6, 1984 Congressional elections were the first such election in the Republic, and only one political party was able to organize in time to compete. As a result, many of the candidates were non-partisan, or ran unopposed. House districts were also only very roughly drawn at the time, with better districts to be drawn up the next year. The majority of those elected had only held positions at the county or municipal level prior to Doomsday. The election was very local - many of the candidates never left their homes to do any campaigning, or at least their town of residence. Being the only organized political party, and with a small level of support from President Stowe, running for office after having been named to the role as a caretaker by the constitutional congress, the Liberal Democrats won control of both houses relatively easily. Bruce Casey of Sault Ste. Marie was named by his peers as the leader of the Liberal Democratic caucus in the House, while John Kerin of Alger was elected by his peers to be the leader of the caucus in the Senate. The two would be the first House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader, respectively, of the young republic. Liberal Democrat Patricia Nyberg of Baraga was named by secret ballot, since all members of the Senate held the same seniority, to be the President Pro Tempore. The majority of the other candidates, running as independents, would join the Conservative Party in 1986, having fought over its formation for two years. Only Senator Cyril Symes of Chippewa and Senator Dudley B. Wells of Delta would remain separate from these two parties, joining the recently formed Socialist Party and remaining an independent, respectively. Among others, those elected for the first time this election included three future Senate Majority Leaders - Liberal Democrat Robert Kulisheck of Marquette, and Conservatives Jordan K. Gibson of Marquette and James Kelleher of Chippewa - and one House Speaker, Conservative Robert P. Griffin of Schoolcraft. Kelleher would also eventually become the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. Most figures heavily involved in the first decade of the Republic, from Dennis Kucinich to James Whitney Dunn, were also first elected at this time.
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