2024 United States presidential election

For related races, see 2024 United States elections

The 2024 United States Presidential Election was the 60th quadrennial presidential election, held on November 5, 2024. Incumbent Democratic 45th President Donald Trump and his running mate, activist and gubernatorial candidate from Arizona, Kari Lake, were re-elected to a second, non consecutive term, this being Lake’s first term as Vice President. Donald Trump was the first President since Grover Cleveland in 1892 to be voted out of office and back into office, and the first Republican President to do so. They defeated the Democrat ticket consisting of incumbent President Joe Biden of Delaware and Vice President Kamala Harris of California.

Despite being the incumbent president, Joe Biden faced an unusually difficult opposition to overcome in Robert F. Kennedy Jr. while trying to get the Democratic nomination. The Republicans, meanwhile, also experienced a very competitive primary process. Though Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida was the favorite to win the primary for a short time, Donald Trump mounted a primary challenge against the governor. Trump easily won the Republican nomination and chose Kari Lake, candidate for Governor of Arizona, to be his running mate.

Biden campaigned on his legislative achievements like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and the Respect for Marriage Act while promising to do more in his second term. He also took the attack to the Republican Party, criticizing them for election denialism and their overall rhetoric. Biden slammed on Trump for his various scandals and election denialism. Trump campaigned on his various achievements as the previous President of the United States, citing a great economy, global stability, and law and order. He attacked Joe Biden for the economic woes faced by the United States under his presidency and for disasters such as the withdrawl from Afghanistan, international and domestic unrest, and disastrous legislation and executive orders, such as signing the railroad strike agreement that left railroad employees with few improvements to their job.

Though the usage of mail-in ballots continued to rise, ballot processing did not take as long as it did in 2020 due to reforms made after the 2020 and 2022 elections. This, in addition to the relative certainty in the outcome of the election in the critical states meant that news agencies projected Donald Trump and Kari Lake being elected to the Presidency and Vice-Presidency by November 6, 2024, the day after the election.

Trump ultimately received the Electoral College majority, receiving 298 Electoral votes to Biden's 240. Trump held the critical swing states of Florida, Ohio, Iowa, and North Carolina, as he did his previous two elections. Trump flipped Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, and Pennsylvania. Incumbent President Biden held the key state of Michigan by a small margin. Trump was the first Republican to win Nevada since 2004. Trump was also the first Republican to win the nationwide popular vote since that same year. This election was the first time Trump won the nationwide popular vote.

Procedure
Article Two of the United States Constitution states that for a person to serve as president, the individual must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, be at least 35 years old, and have been a United States resident for at least 14 years. Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the various political parties in the United States. Each party develops a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position. Primary elections are usually indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf. The presidential nominee typically chooses a vice presidential running mate to form that party's ticket, which is then ratified by the delegates at the party's convention (except for the Libertarian Party, which nominates its vice-presidential candidate by delegate vote regardless of the presidential nominee's preference). The general election in November is also an indirect election, in which voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the Electoral College; these electors then directly elect the president and vice president. If no candidate receives the minimum 270 electoral votes needed to win the election, the United States House of Representatives will select the president from among the three candidates who received the most electoral votes, and the United States Senate will select the vice president from among the candidates who received the two highest totals. The presidential election occurred simultaneously alongside elections for the House of Representatives, the Senate, and various state and local-level elections.

Democratic Party
Though Biden has a string of significant legislative achievements, he still remained a relatively unpopular president due to the economic downturn that he oversaw. Biden also oversaw embarrassing and catastrophic disasters, like the withdraw from Afghanistan and the Great 2024 Recession, which was worse than the disaster in 2008. Because of this, Biden won over barely enough pledged delegates to win the primary election, only winning 26 states and Washington DC. Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Biden's most prominent challenger, received the delegations from 24 states and all of the territories. The primaries were proven to be contentious, even before the results. Biden received attacks from Kennedy, depicting him as a disastrous President and a divider, rather than a unifier, which is what Biden promised to do. In turn, he made attacks on Kennedy, claiming he was a 'DINO,' or, Democrat in Name Only, and for being an anti-vaccine activist. Despite this, Kennedy was still able to give the incumbent President a run for his money. On June 15, 2024, it was announced that Biden had won his party's nomination.

Republican Party
The Republican Primary was a very contentious election with a wide array of candidates. There were many of them, but the top five most prominent were Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Ohio businessman Vivek G. Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, and former Vice President Mike Pence. The primary involved lots of attacks in light of the party's recent division. DeSantis, Haley, and Pence attacked Trump for his 'disastrous tenure in office, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and other things that Trump promised to do, but never did or wasn't able to. All of the attacks were on the same administration that Pence, Haley, and many other contenders served on. In turn, Trump attacked all the candidates for their corruption and incompetence, accusing them of being part of 'the swamp' and being RINOs, or 'Republicans in Name Only.' By June 15, 2024, Trump was the evident winner of the primary. He had won the caucuses of 42 states, DC, and all of America's territories. The states of Utah, Florida, and California went to Governor DeSantis. The state of Ohio was won by Ramaswamy. South Carolina was won by Nikki Haley. Mike Pence won his home state of Indiana, as well as the state of Wisconsin. Former Governor Chris Christie won his home state of New Jersey. The next day, all of the candidates conceded to Donald Trump. Most of them pledged their support to him.