2024 Presidential Election (Ricky's Future Elections)

The 2024 Presidential Elections saw a rematch between Incumbent President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump.

Primary process
Speculation about Trump's possible candidacy started immediately after the 2024 Presidential Election. In 2021, Trump apparently "made up his mind" about whether he was running for President. After Republicans did very well in the midterms, Trump started what was seen as a prepared run for the Republican nomination, visiting the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Trump formally announced his bid in April 2023. Despite being the incumbent, speculation that President Joe Biden would not run for re-election was heavy. Nonetheless, Biden announced shortly after the midterms that he would seek another term as President, despite low approval ratings and his old age (Biden was 82 on the day of the election).

Primaries
Before Trump announced his candidacy, only Former Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton announced his candidacy for President. Follow Trump's entry, other top names in the GOP like Ron Desantis and Nikki Hailey declined to run for President, instead backing Trump. Following a poll showing that Trump lead Stapleton 75%-4%, Stapleton withdrew the race and endorsed Trump, choosing to run for the United States Senate against Jon Tester instead. Despite Stapleton's withdrawal, Trump still did not run unopposed, as in July 2023, Former US Congressman Adam Kinzinger announced his candidacy. Regardless, Trump lead consistently in polling.

Vice presidential selection
Following the 2020 Presidential Election, Vice President Pence distanced himself from his former ally, backing Governor Brian Kemp in the midterms despite Trump backing primary challenger David Purdue. Following Kinzinger's withdrawal from the race, Trump started looking for a new running mate. Media speculation guessed Trump's list included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Senator Jodi Ernst of Iowa, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, Governor Glen Youngkin of Virginia, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Hailey.

A member of the Trump campaign revealed Trump had narrowed the list down to Hawley, Ernst and Hailey, eventually choosing Hailey.

Primaries
Upon Joe Biden's re-election campaign, most prominent Democrats declined to run. Although congresswoman Alexandria Occasio Cortez of New York expressed interest in a primary challenge, she instead ran for re-election, and no other prominent Democrats filed to run against Biden.

Campaign
The campaign between the two Presidents were very aggressive. Trump criticized Biden for his poor handling of The Ukrainian War and an unstable economy. Biden attacked Trump over his attempts to overturn the 2020 Unites Presidential Election, including the Capital insurrection on January 6th, 2021. Biden also attacked The Republican effort to overturn Roe Vs. Wade in early 2022.

Though Trump had a strong campaign and was leading early on, he blundered in August, when he tweeted about potential election fraud in November, stating "If I do not win this election in November, it will become more obvious than the Democrats are rigging our elections". The Biden campaign was able to use the tweet to their advantage and in September, Biden took the lead for the first time in polls.

After the First Presidential Debate, which many considered a poor performance for both sides, both Biden and Trump dropped in support, and the undecided vote rose juristically, with Biden narrowly leading Trump. However, after Kamala Harris blundered in the Vice Presidential Debate, Trump's campaign took back the lead and held it steadily into election day.

Results
Trump won by a narrow margin in the popular vote, but a slightly larger electoral college victory compared to 2016. Trump was the projected winner of the race after he carried the state of Wisconsin, which after flipping the states of Arizona and Georgia earlier into the night, gave him exactly 270 votes, enough to be declared the victory. He would later also flip Pennsylvania, Nevada and Michigan, as well as hold onto Alaska, giving him a 313 Electoral Vote victory.