2024 United States Presidential Election

== Democratic primaries ==
After Joe Biden won a decisive victory in the 2020 election, almost everyone assumed that Vice President Kamala Harris would be the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee. Biden had had a successful presidency, after all- 
A couple months after being inaugurated, vaccines for the coronavirus became widely accessible, and by that summer, daily life had returned to how it was pre-covid, but with a new sense of resilience and vigilance. This led to several governors getting reelected in landslides. In New Jersey in 2021, for example, Governor Phil Murphy was reelected by over 30 points, sweeping every county in the state.
Biden also was popular because, unlike the Obama administration, his administration was not afraid to pursue criminal charges against people in government, people who had served in government, and private individuals as well. Only a month into his administration, former Attorney General William Barr was indicted on several counts of corruption, and was sentenced to life in prison. 
Shortly afterwards, Mitch McConnell also suffered the same fate and had no choice but to resign in disgrace. McConnell too was sentenced to life in prison on several felony charges, including treason. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, replaced him with Amy McGrath, whom McConnell had defeated months earlier. Numerous other former Trump administration officials and Republican politicians also were investigated, indicted, prosecuted, and jailed. In addition, with a new sense of urgency and power, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Mark Levin, and a few other rightwing extremists were pulled off the air, as the radio networks had no choice but to capitulate to massive public pressure to pull the plug on them.
The 2022 midterms saw even more Democratic gains in the House and the Senate; Democrats flipped Senate seats in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, and North Carolina. After the midterm elections, the 2024 presidential race began to heat up. In February of 2023, President Biden announced that he would not seek reelection, instead choosing to retire. Immediately, Vice President Kamala Harris declared her candidacy and instantly became the favorite to get the nomination. A few other Democrats also announced their candidacy, although their campaigns were not considered to be challenging to Harris's. However, there was one Democrat who anti-establishment Democrats actually supported: Jaime Harrison. 
In 2020, Harrison lost to Lindsay Graham, but remained a popular figure in the Democratic party. Many people saw that his charisma was able to attract voters from the opposite party. In 2023, Harrison announced his presidential bid. Although he narrowly won the Iowa caucuses, he lost the New Hampshire primary. 
As polls indicated, Jaime Harrison won the South Carolina primary in a huge landslide. The race seemed to be nip-and-tuck until Super Tuesday, when Harrison took 9 of the 14 states and became the established front-runner. Although Harris won a handful of other states afterwards, it became increasingly clear that she had no viable path to the nomination and dropped out in May of 2024, only a couple months before the Democratic National Convention. 
== Republican primaries ==
Despite suffering bad loss against Joe Biden in 2020, Donald Trump still remained the de-facto standard-bearer of the Republican party. Many Republican politicians would still take orders directly from him, despite him no longer being president. In 2022 and the beginning of 2023, rumors swirled that Trump might try and run for a third time. However, by then, Trump's health was failing and in April of 2023, he announced that he was not running again. That same day, his son, Donald Trump jr, announced his candidacy and immediately became the favorite to get the nomination. Several other Republicans also later joined the race, including Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, former Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, and a few others. Although all of those men spoke well and had a solid base, Donald Trump jr still swept the Iowa caucuses easily, and won the New Hampshire primary as well (although Charlie Baker came very close to winning). After Trump jr easily won South Carolina, most of the remaining Republican challengers dropped out and Trump jr coasted to the nomination.
== The lead-up into the election ==
Shortly before the Democratic National Convention, Jaime Harrison selected Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois to be his vice presidential pick. A war hero and amputee, Duckworth proved to be an ideal choice. Trump jr, meanwhile, picked Congressman Matt Gaetz as his running-mate. A fierce Trump loyalist, Gaetz was able to fire up the loyal Trump base but had great difficulty appealing to undecided voters. 
After both candidates were formally nominated, the battle heated up. Harrison said that Trump jr was unqualified, inexperienced, and was no different than his father with his divisive rhetoric. Trump jr countered by calling Harrison a socialist who supported open borders, and that he was backed by the "deep state". Both candidates traded insults as election day drew nearer, although the both discussed their plans as well. Jaime Harrison called for greater investments in modern technology that would help secure Americas' borders, as well as a comprehensive plan to help fossil fuel reliant states (Kentucky, West Virginia, etc) to transition towards green energy without throwing millions of people out of work. While resisting calls for a Medicare For All healthcare system, he did promise to make sure that everyone had access to healthcare. Harrison also promised a tax cut for working-class families. 
Trump jr, meanwhile, promised to "resume" construction on the border wall, cut taxes enormously for the wealthy, and to invest huge amounts of money into fossil fuels. He promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but didn't have a plan for a replacement.
Most pundits gave Harrison a very large lead in the Electoral College in the months leading up to election day, and that it was possible that Harrison could flip several states that had not voted Democratic for many decades. Still, Fox news insisted that Harrison would lose by a landslide, as did other rightwing pundits. Trafalgar polling actually showed Trump jr with a 1 point lead in Illinois and a 3 point lead in Oregon; Harrison would go on to win both these states by over 20 points. 
== Election night ==
Although there wasn't really any "October surprise", every major polling firm and media outlet predicted that Harrison would win in a landslide, except for Fox. In fact, Harrison outperformed even the most optimistic of expectations and won the election by 10:00 pm EST. Harrison easily won his home state of South Carolina, which had not voted Democratic since 1976, and he also flipped the state of Texas with relative ease. Montana also went to Harrison in an upset, as did the state of Kansas. By Wednesday morning, Harrison had 434 electoral votes to Trump jr's 104.
However, Trump jr refused to concede the election, claiming that there was huge amounts of voter fraud that cost him many states. Fox news and other rightwing news agencies cheered him on, but Congressional Republicans told him to give up, as there was no way he would ever win. Although Trump jr initially held firm, he eventually conceded 2 weeks after election night.
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Category:Elections
Category:US elections
Category:US elections 2024