The 2024 general election was held on Tuesday, November 5th. During these elections, held every 4 years, Americans elect a new president and other elected positions. Early voting began weeks prior in many states, including battleground states. This election was like no other election. Just a few months ago, Americans were expecting a rematch of 2020 between President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump. However, that all has changed and now this race was turning out to be a close one, with Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump tied in the polls. Yet, it’s important to note polls are not an accurate way to predict the election’s outcome and anything can happen on Election Night. With that in mind, let’s begin diving into the events that had this election season like no other.
2022-2023
In September 2022, Donald Trump announced his bid for the 2024 presidential election. This was a crucial moment in the race for the white house, considering this announcement was made months before primaries would start. Then 2023 came along and in the fall of that year, the Republican Primary Debates were held between the candidates achieving to become the nominee for their party. The candidates attempting to earn the delegates to become the nominee included Governor Ron Desantis, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, and Vivek Ramaswamy, just to name a few. However, former President Donald Trump was absent from the debate, arguing he was in the lead of the polls.
By the second primary debate, only seven candidates made it to the stage, after Asa Hutchinson didn’t qualify. For an overview of the debate, NPR did a great job of highlighting what the candidates discussed. AP News summarized the third GOP primary debate in November 2023. Foreign policy was the central topic of the debate and the candidates displayed their support for Israel. Yet again, Trump’s absence was brought up in the debate between the candidates. These debates serve as the purpose for each candidate to present themselves, who they are, and what they stand for. During the primary elections, Donald Trump earned the majority of the delegates with other candidates like Desantis, and Haley, earning some delegates. Nikki Haley, former Governor of South Carolina, would drop her bid to become president, the last candidate remaining after the rest dropped their bid. In the end, Trump earned enough delegates to secure his spot as the Republican nominee for president.
Democratic Party
In April 2023, Joe Biden announced his reelection bid. His slogan for this campaign was “Let’s finish the job.” Biden had no real challenger in the primary race, although two candidates rose to earn the delegates’ votes: Dean Philips and Marianne Williamson. Dean Philips announced his campaign in October 2023. In an interview with CBS, Philips stated “I will not sit still, I will not be quiet in the face of numbers that are so clearly saying we’re going to be facing an emergency next November.” NBC News reported that Philips argued that if Biden remains in the race, he would lose to Donald Trump in the November election. During his campaign trip before the Democratic primaries, Philips said he has immense respect for Biden but stated the following “But he should have passed the torch. He should not be running again. His age, yes, his stage of life. He’s in decline. We have very serious problems, costs, chaos, challenges facing this country in this world that I think are awfully difficult for either of these two men to address.”
Age Concerns
With this, it brings us to the discussion of the age of a President. If Biden had remained in the race and won the presidency for another 4 years, then by the end of his second, he would have been 86. Americans’ concerns over the age of a sitting president can be traced back to Ronald Reagan, the 40th US President. When Ronald Reagan announced he was running for a second term in 1984, he was 73, making him the oldest president. Critics were quick to point out whether he was capable of serving another term as President. However, this all changed when it came down to the final presidential debate in 1984. Reagan was equipped to answer the questions that came his way regarding his age. In that debate he would state the famous line that defined his campaign: “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Here is the video of Reagan stating this famous line, and while watching, you can hear laughs happening in the background and even getting a laugh from his opponent, Walter Mondale. Reagan won the election in a landslide of 525 electoral votes, the highest number of electoral votes received of any presidential candidate in U.S. History.
1st Presidential Debate
The age concerns did not dwindle toward Joe Biden and continued up to the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden on June 27th, 2024. CNN was the moderator of the debate. Both Biden and Trump settled to host 2 debates in this election cycle, one in June and the second in September. Throughout the debate, Biden’s voice was low, and stumbled on his answers while answering questions. On the contrary, Trump made his stance clear for what he envisioned for the next 4 years. CBS News did a great job highlighting the moments of this debate. The highlight issue of the debate was the economy; Biden responded and pointed figures to Former President Trump in concern about the economy being left in freefall: “The pandemic was so badly handled. … What we had to try to do was put things back together again, and that’s exactly what we began to do.” On the contrary, President Trump stated that under his (Trump) administration, he had the greatest economy in the history of the US. In the debate, Trump defended the proposal of imposing a 10% tariff on all foreign products that arrive in the US, arguing that “It’s not going to drive them higher.”
Immigration was also the center of discussion between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Trump defended himself by saying that as President, he had the safest border while attacking Biden for having the largest number of migrants come through the border. Both candidates continued their attacks on one another; in one exchange, both began to draw criticism over which candidate was the worst president so far. “He’s the worst president in the history of our country,” Trump stated. Biden would throw back the claim to Trump and state “They said he was the worst in all presidential history,” How presidents are ranked historically is a topic for another time, yet this brings us to the divisive state the United States is currently in. Both Trump and Biden were popular figures in their respective party, each securing the number of delegates to become the nominee for their party.
Yet, the top concern for voters was the age of both President Biden and Former President Trump. Biden would respond by stating that he was sworn in as the youngest senator at the age of 30 years old. “I was the second-youngest person ever elected to the United States Senate, and now I’m the oldest. This guy’s three years younger, and a lot less competent” Biden stated. In response to the question of age, Trump stated the following: “Well, I took two tests, cognitive tests, I aced them, both of them as you know, we made it public,” He then referred to golf and noted that he won two regular club championships, stating “To do that, you have to be quite smart, and you have to be able to hit the ball a very long way.” If you would like to look over the discussions between Biden and Trump and a summary of the debate, here is the link.
After the June 27th Debate, Democrats panicked over the performance of President Joe Biden. Members within the Democratic Party began to pressure Biden to drop out of the race, but he insisted he would remain. A rally following the debate had Biden speaking fiery and stating “When you get knocked down, you get back up!” Was this enough to demonstrate that Biden was up for the job?
July 2024
However, what Americans weren’t expecting was that July 2024 would be an unprecedented month in this election. Just weeks after the debate, on July 13th, 2024, during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump spoke to a large crowd, and only a few minutes into the rally, Donald Trump was shot in the ear in an attempted assassination. Trump was immediately shielded by the Secret Service and was rushed off stage; at this moment, he lifted his hand and shouted the phrase: “Fight, Fight, Fight!” The attempt on Donald Trump’s life happened just 2 days before the Republican National Convention started on July 15th. In an address to the nation on July 14th, President Joe Biden argued to put aside the political differences between the parties: “A former president was shot. An American citizen killed. While simply exercising his freedom to support the candidate of his choosing. We cannot, we must not go down this road in America.” The attempted assassination of Donald Trump reflects how divisive America has become in the years. This incident should never have taken place, regardless of your views towards Trump or the Republican Party as a whole. While people disagree with Trump and Biden, no one should ever wish harm to them, because at the end of the day, both figures are fighting for their values.
Approximately one week later, on July 21st, 2024, President Joe Biden announced he would drop out of the 2024 US Election race, ending his reelection bid. In a letter shared to the public the same day, Biden expressed his gratitude for serving in the highest elected position. President Biden noted his achievements during his administration: “We’ve made historic investments in rebuilding our Nation, in lowering prescription drug costs for seniors, and in expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans. We’ve provided critically needed care to a million veterans exposed to toxic substances. Passed the first gun safety law in 30 years.” However, the letter expressed Biden’s intention to run for reelection; although in the end, he chose to drop out of the 2024 race and “to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.” The day Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, he endorsed Kamala Harris to become the Democratic nominee for President. Remember, this took place weeks before the Democratic National Convention, set for August. While the process was not chaotic, it was a surprising turn for the 2024 Election. Donald Trump would face a new opponent from the Democratic Party, Kamala Harris. Harris quickly assumed to become the nominee and gained momentum in the following weeks. Joe Biden became one of few presidents not to seek reelection, the most recent being Lyndon B. Johnson back in 1968, who chose to run for reelection following the events of the Vietnam War.
What’s interesting to note is in Johnson’s case, the selection of a new candidate was chaotic. Before this, Lyndon B. Johnson had earned his term in the 1964 election, earning more than 60% of the popular vote. As some can recall, LBJ was known for the legislation he passed during his administration, including the Civil Rights Act and a few more, all a series of the “Great Society.” During the convention, the Democratic Party was split between nominating Hubert Humphrey, his VP and successor. In an article by NPR, they recalled that during the 1968 Convention, no member could decide who would speak and who would be nominated as the candidate representing the Democratic Party. On the third night of the Convention, protestors left their seats and marched to the Hilton Hotel, where they were pepper sprayed by officers. The article goes into more depth about the 1968 election cycle, including Johnson’s withdrawal from the race that opened the spot for candidates to rise to the national spotlight; their primary focus was to end the war in Vietnam. This is what separated these candidates such as RFK from Hubert Humphrey, who was labeled as a candidate who would support the Vietnam War.
RNC & DNC
During July and August, the Convention for both the Republican and Democratic Parties were held. These conventions serve as the area where delegates from each state select their candidate for President. In the case of the RNC, delegates selected Donald Trump to become the Republican nominee; with this, Trump was now running for President, for the third time. The RNC followed a schedule focusing on 3 key themes to showcase what they promise to deliver if elected; Economy, Crime/Immigration, and Foreign Policy. During the Republican National Convention, public figures expressed their support for Donald Trump to become the next President of the United States. Notably, his granddaughter, Kai Trump gave a speech to the audience, mentioning how proud she is of her Grandpa.
At the end of the RNC, Donald Trump gave his speech where he accepted the nomination. In his speech, he honored the late firefighter, Corey Comperatore, who was shot and killed while shielding his family from the bullets on the day of the Trump Assassination Attempt. He also commented on the day he was shot by an assassin, stating “I’m not supposed to be here.” Regardless of your political views on Donald Trump, this speech was emotional for him and his supporters. Trump understood the necessity of addressing what happened on July 13th. In his speech, Trump took the opportunity to outline unity following the attempt on his life just days before. The Republican Party had now chosen their nominee for President, Donald Trump and Vice President, JD Vance.
Soon after, the DNC held its convention in August and was looking ahead to a new candidate, Kamala Harris. During the convention, President Joe Biden gave a speech in support of Kamala Harris. It’s important to note that this year’s DNC was supposed to be Biden accepting the nomination to run for reelection. Joe Biden was the leader of the Democratic Party and seeing him speak not as the nominee was an impactful moment. Regardless of your views, Joe Biden has led an incredible legacy, serving public office for over 50 years. Biden received a round of applause from his colleagues and supporters. This was the first night of the DNC, so it was important for President Biden to focus on his message of unity for his party. In his speech, he stated, “Like many of you, I gave my heart and soul to this nation.” Throughout his speech, President Biden made sure to focus on his VP, Kamala Harris, since this was the convention that would eventually nominate her for President of the United States: “Selecting Kamala was the very first decision I made when I became our nominee and it’s the best decision I made my whole career,” Biden said. “She’s tough, she’s experienced, and she has enormous integrity.”
At the end of the Democratic National Convention, Kamala Harris gave her speech to close the event. This was the speech where she would address the audience who she is and most importantly, accept the nomination for President of the United States. Now, the US was headed to a face-off between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Both campaigns continued to strengthen their platform and held rallies in the weeks leading up to the first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
2nd Presidential Debate
Later in the year, on September 10th, the second presidential debate was held. This was also the first time both candidates met each other. Here is the link to the full transcript of the debate. As the candidates were walking on stage, Harris went to shake hands with Donald Trump. This was distant from the first debate when neither Biden nor Trump chose to shake each other’s hand. The following information was gathered from CBS.
One of the first questions asked by moderator David Muir was “If Americans are better off economically than they were four years ago.” Harris was the first to answer although her answer wasn’t direct, she stated the following: “I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people” Harris also highlighted offering tax deductions to small businesses and she planned to have an “opportunity economy.” Trump would respond to her comments and state he would be in favor of imposing tariffs: Trump also commented how “criminal immigrants are “taking over towns, they’re taking over buildings.”
In one of the highlights, Harris chose to contrast herself with Donald Trump, by focusing on a message of unity. Harris would state the following comments during this frame: “In this debate tonight, you’re going to hear from the same old tired playbook — a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling…I believe very strongly that the American people want a president who understands the importance of bringing us together knowing we have so much more important than what separates us, and I pledge to you to be a president for all Americans,” During this moment, Harris brought up Project 2025 and said Trump would implement the proposed plans made by the Heritage Foundation. However, Trump dismissed these claims and responded with “I have nothing to do with Project 2025.”
Moderators asked Harris if she had changed her positions on issues since her first run for President in 2020; she stated “My values have not changed.” Her position on fracking was that America needs to invest in other outlets for energy “to reduce the reliance on foreign oil.” Kamala Harris stood true to her values of protecting women and children from crime, considering Harris had served as a former prosecutor.
When it came down to discussing immigration, Harris brought up her attention to defending her record as a prosecutor. In her discussion, Harris stated that a bipartisan bill was on the way that could have added more agents and additional resources to the border; more resources would be needed to alleviate the flow of migrants passing through the Southern border. This was one of the arguments made by the Trump campaign, to deport all illegal immigrants living in the United States. During this discussion, Harris mentioned how Donald Trump called up people in Congress and stated “killed the bill. And you know why? Because he’d prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.”
At the end of the debate, Donald Trump would give his closing arguments. Trump centered on critiquing the Biden and Harris Administration for not getting anything done, in his words, the last 4 years. Trump would state the following: “So she just started by saying she’s going to do this, she’s going to do that, she’s going to do all of these wonderful things, “Why hasn’t she done it?” Donald Trump pointed out how Harris “believes in things that the American people don’t believe in.” If you would like to follow up with the rest of the highlights that made this 2nd presidential debate worth watching, here is the full list provided by CBS,
By looking at the events listed above in the article, it was clear that this election cycle was unlike any other. Americans were not expecting Joe Biden to have dropped out after the June presidential debate that shed light on his capacity as President. Some could argue that Donald Trump was neither the favorite to earn the delegates to become the nominee. However, to the surprise of many, Trump won all the delegates and would eventually become the Republican nominee for President. Ultimately, the events that played out had this race in such a close match. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump were likely candidates to have won the White House. In our next article, we will cover the election results and why the polls were inaccurate. Also, we will dive into a hypothetical scenario of if Kamala Harris had won the election.