2024 United States presidential election (Finolian)

The **2024 United States presidential election** was the 60th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Despite losing both the popular vote and electoral vote, the Republican ticket of Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz defeated the Democratic ticket of Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar and the Patriot Party ticket of Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor-Greene. Because neither candidate could achieve a majority in the Electoral College, the president was decided by the House of Representatives, the first of such since 1824. The results of the election were extremely controversial, resulting in numerous protests, riots, terrorist threats, and the succession of the state of Kentucky from the Union; the state was re-admitted on March 6, 2025. Following president Joe Biden's announcement regarding his refusal to run in the election, the Democratic Party held a primary election, of which Kamala Harris was nominated. Ron DeSantis won the Republican Party nomination after popular candidate and former president Donald Trump announced his campaign for the Patriot Party. The election saw lower voter turnout than the previous election.

The election was highly competitive. Along with the previously mentioned parties, numerous third parties also sought election, including the Libertarian Party, Green Party, Constitution Party, among many others. Many political analysts considered the election one of the most important in modern history. The central issues of the election included voting rights, abortion access, the expansion of publicly funded healthcare, equal marriage, and access to gender-affirming care for transgender individuals.

Because the COVID-19 pandemic had been declared an endemic illness earlier that year, there were much fewer ballots cast by mail than the previous election. Kamala Harris ultimately received victory in both the popular vote and electoral vote; however, because none of the candidates reached the minimum of electoral votes needed to win, the election was decided by the House of Representatives, who picked Ron DeSantis as the winner of the election. It was the first election North Carolina had voted Democratic since 2008, the first a third-party candidate had won electoral votes since 1968, and the first where none of the candidates reached the minimum electoral votes needed to win since 1824. Ultimately, Ron DeSantis won a total of 26 state delegates in the Senate, winning the election in an extremely controversial vote. Ted Cruz won a slim majority of 220 delegates in the House of Representatives, after weeks of chaotic negotiation, ensuring his victory as Vice President.

The weeks following the election were chaotic, featuring nationwide protests, riots, and several terrorist threats towards politicians of major parties. Because of the election results, the state of Kentucky temporarily seceded from the Union, encouraging a few other states to have rebellious tendencies. However, the United States military was involved in securing Kentucky, and it was readmitted as a state on March 6, 2025, under the new DeSantis presidency. The governor of Kentucky was convicted of treason and subsequently sentenced to life in federal prison; President DeSantis refused to pardon him. Furthermore, there were many attempts to overturn the results of the election, mostly by Democrats, however a few lawsuits were filed by members of the Patriot Party. Far-right organization Proud Boys attempted to storm the Capitol Building as well as the White House following the election, and explosives were discovered behind the Supreme Court as well.

## Background

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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.

### Simultaneous elections

The presidential election occurred simultaneously with elections to the Senate and the House of Representatives. Gubernatorial and legislative elections were also held in several states. For the subsequent election, the United States House will redistribute the seats among the 50 states based on the results of the 2020 United States Census, and the states will conduct a redistricting of Congressional and state legislative districts.

## Nominations

### Democratic Party

Because incumbent president Joe Biden refused to run for a second term, Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee on June 6, 2024, when she secured enough delegates to ensure her nomination at the national convention.

### Republican Party

Ron DeSantis announced his plan to run for president on December 12, 2023. He became the presumptive nominee after securing enough delegates to ensure his nomination at the national convention.

### Patriot Party

The newly-formed Patriot Party became a campaign challenge to the Republican Party. The party nominated party founder and former President Donald Trump for President and representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene for Vice President.

## General election campaigns

### Party conventions

The 2024 Democratic National Convention was held between July 20 and July 24 in Atlanta, Georgia. At the convention, delegates of the Democratic Party formally nominated Kamala Harris for president and Amy Klobuchar for Vice President. Unlike the previous convention in 2020, the events were held entirely in-person.

The 2024 Republican National Convention was originally planned to be held from July 4 and July 8 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, however a surge in COVID-19 cases delayed the convention to July 15-19. Delegates from the Republican Party formally nominated governor Ron DeSantis for President and senator Ted Cruz for Vice President. The convention was controversial and upsetting for supporters of former President Donald Trump, who refused to accept the nomination of DeSantis and formed an independent Presidential ticket of Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor-Greene, and later created the Patriot Party. Their convention was held from September 1-3 in Houston, Texas, and the Patriot Party managed to get an electorate in 21 states.

The Libertarian National Convention was held from July 20-23 in Des Moines, Iowa.

The Green National Convention was held from July 20-24 in Portland, Oregon.

## Campaign issues

### The economy

Following the natural decline of COVID-19, the Biden presidency saw a great degree of economic improvement. By the start of 2024, national unemployment rates had decreased to those from before the pandemic. Despite this, the majority of Americans still disapproved of Biden's handling of the economy, according to several pollsters. If elected, Harris promised to continue Biden's strategy for the economy, claiming that it had "saved million of Americans" from the COVID-19 recession.

### Transgender-affirming care

    Beginning in 2020, state legislators in many Republican states introduced anti-transgender bills in what has been described as a coordinated assault against the rights of transgender individuals. This became a national issue during Ron DeSantis's campaign, as he vehemently opposed gender-affirming healthcare for minors; he also publicly pushed the transgender grooming conspiracy theory, calling them "pedophiles," and promised to enact nationwide legislations against gender-affirming healthcare for transgender individuals. DeSantis also spoke out against the LGBTQ+ community in general, claiming that the movement has been forced on children in schools, and ultimately saying that the community was based on the "indoctrination of children." Before DeSantis's presidential campaign, a nationwide poll concluded that the majority of Americans oppose laws that prohibit gender-affirming care for transgender individuals, with only 36% in favor of such legislation. However, a second poll was conducted four months after the start of DeSantis's campaign, and it concluded that only a plurality of Americans oppose such laws, with 46% in opposition and 38% in support.

Kamala Harris showed support for transgender-affirming healthcare. During a speech in Chicago, Harris compared anti-trans legislation to genocide, and asserted that transgender people should always have access to gender-affirming care. She also compared transgender-affirming care to the right to an abortion, stating that they both fall under the larger issue of bodily autonomy. She criticized DeSantis and the Republican Party on their views of the issue, restating that bodily autonomy and personal choice should not be decided by the government. However, when asked if she would allow her child to transition, Harris replied with "Maybe, it depends. Probably," of which many conservatives claimed as hypocrisy; they often used her words against her.

## Results

    Despite losing the popular vote and the electoral vote, the Republican ticket of Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz won the election in what was considered an upset, receiving 222 electoral votes and 44% of the popular vote. The Democratic ticket of Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar came in second, with 263 electoral votes and 46% of the popular vote. Because none of the candidates reached a majority in the Electoral College, the election was decided by Congress, of whom the Senate voted narrowly for DeSantis and the House of Representatives for Cruz. The election results sparked numerous protests, riots, and other forms of civil unrest, the secession of the state of Kentucky from the union, as well as calls to reform the electoral system of the United States.