Jay Kingston

Jay Robert Kingston (born February 9, 1951) is an American politician who is currently serving as the 45th President of the United States since 2005. A Democrat, Kingston previously served as a U.S. Senator from the Southwest from 1999 to 2005 and as the U.S. Representative from the 14th district from 1993 to 1999.

Kingston briefly served as House Majority Whip before his ascension to House Majority Leader in 1994. He is the longest-serving majority leader of either chamber in MGI history and was one of two people left in the House of Representatives who served in the first session (the other being Mary Johnson).

Kingston was appointed to the Senate upon the resignation of Lucas Gardner on October 16, 1999. He served as the Senate Majority Whip for his entire tenure and left office on January 3, 2005. He was succeeded by Avery Young, who also succeeded him in the House of Representatives.

After months of speculation, Kingston announced his candidacy for president in 2004 on December 30, 2002. He was unopposed in the Democratic primaries and was nominated for the presidency at the Democratic National Convention on June 20, 2004. He faced Republican senator Felix Quintos until Quintos dropped out and was replaced on the ticket by his running mate, Roscoe Lee. Kingston was elected president in a landslide on November 2, 2004 and was sworn in on January 20, 2005.

A brief constitutional crisis in which it was unknown if Kingston was incapacitated caused Claire Serrano to be briefly sworn in as president on June 4, 2005; however, it was later ruled by the Supreme Court that Kingston was in fact not incapacitated, and Serrano's acting presidency was nulled.