It's 2013, a new President has just been inaugurated (Democrat, but a white guy). Francis Underwood was supposed to be Secretary of State because of his efforts in getting the President elected, but instead they make him stay Majority Whip in the House of Representatives, so he decides to play his own game.

The reporter that he sleeps with isn't killed at the end of the series, though. He first takes down the nominee for State Department in a maneuver that really mirrors the Chuck Hagel controversy that is going on in real life, then he gets his candidate in for State.

After that, he gets a bill passed on education that sees him change the majority leader in the House to his candidate, and then he backs for Pennsylvania governor (the VP was formerly governor and of course had to resign to be VP) a drunk cokehead Representative from Pennsylvania whom he "owns" due to knowing about the DWI arrest where the Representative had a prostitute with him in the car. The guy implodes near the election and then Underwood leaves him, drunk and passed out, in his car in the garage with the car running to make it look like suicide, then forces the VP to run for his old seat as governor, getting himself nominated for VP in the guy's place.