Gaynor takes up the running

16.07.29: GAYNOR HOCKNEY, the governor of Illinois and widow of presidential candidate Orson Taylor, turned a routine photo-call in Chicago into an appointment with history by announcing that she would run for president in 2032.

It has long been rumoured that Hockney promised her husband she would take up the baton in the event of his death. However, sources close to Hockney had thought she would wait until the 2036 election. The big surprise is that she is to stand not as an Independent but as a Democrat.

Hockney announced her candidacy early in order to spearhead a mass registration campaign, which the US has not seen since the early days of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Although about 25% of the population are registered voters, only one in four of those actually vote. MF