Who are the 2024 presidential election candidates?
The 2024 presidential primaries are gaining steam, and the race for the White House is intensifying.
Former President Donald Trump became the first candidate to jump into the competition when he made the announcement in November 2022 that he would seek to get back his old job. Three months later, Trump’s former Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, challenged her former boss, underscoring a growing willingness within the GOP to take on Trump.
The Democratic group includes President Biden and two long-shot candidates. Despite polls indicating that Americans have concerns about his age, Biden stated last year that he was running for office for four more years to “finish the job.”
These are just a few of the 2024 presidential election candidates. Let’s see what the whole picture looks like! We’ll start with Democrats, we’ll continue with Republicans, and then we’ll talk about independent candidates. Let’s get started!
Joe Biden (Democrat)
After last year’s midterm elections, Biden said that he intended to run for office again. Shortly after, he posted a three-minute video on his Twitter account, letting viewers know that “this isn’t a time to be complacent.”
But as one of the 2024 presidential election candidates, Biden seems to be facing some skepticism from Democrats. Polling has shown multiple times that many Democrats and voters overall don’t want Biden to seek another term. However, an overwhelming majority of Democrats stated that they would support the current president should he become the nominee.
Some have expressed their concern over the polls that show Biden neck and neck or trailing Trump. Apparently, people feel like Biden is too old to run for reelection.
The president also won’t be on the New Hampshire primary ballot because of the controversy over Democratic Party primary scheduling. This basically gives a chance for another candidate to take the Granite State early in the race.
Marianne Williamson (Democrat)
Williamson became the first Democrat to throw a primary challenge at Biden when she formally announced her second presidential bid on March 4, 2023. So Marianne Williamson is now one of the 2024 presidential election candidates.
She is a self-help author, and she ran for the White House for the first time in 2020 but withdrew from the race before the primaries began. Williamson stated in an interview with “Good Morning New Hampshire” that Democratic voters can both admire Biden’s accomplishments and want to move on from him as the country’s and party’s leader.
Of all the 2024 presidential election candidates, she seems pretty confident. Williamson expressed optimism about her prospects of winning shortly before kicking off her bid and noted in an online post that many didn’t expect Trump to win back in 2016. However, it is pretty unlikely for Williamson to win the nomination.
Moreover, Democratic strategists have said that they don’t see Williamson as a serious threat to Biden’s chances.
Similar to other 2024 presidential election candidates, her campaign has faltered since the launch, with several waves of significant senior staff turnover.
Dean Phillips (Democrat)
Of all the 2024 presidential election candidates, Phillips is the newest one, joining the competition in October 2023 after months of speculation over a Biden primary challenge. Moreover, the Minnesota congressman filed his paperwork at the last minute—more specifically, on the last possible day.
In a CBS News interview launching his campaign, Phillips stated that President Biden has done many great things for the country, but pointed out that it isn’t the past we should focus on. “This is an election about the future,” he said.
A moderate, Phillips expressed his disapproval of Biden’s record on immigration policy and how he handled economic decisions, specifically the ones related to inflation. Biden’s advocates have played down the threat posed by the little-known congressman.
According to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who’s on a Biden campaign advisory board, the stakes are too high in this race, especially for Black voters, to focus on a “vanity project” rather than what is best for the Democratic party and the country.
This is the Democratic picture of the 2020 presidential election candidates. Let’s see the Republicans!
Donald Trump (Republican)
Trump launched his third run for the White House just a week after the 2022 midterm, making him the first major candidate to enter the race.
His bid kicked off to a relatively sleepy start. The former president didn’t make his first true campaign swings until January 2023, when he stopped in South Carolina and New Hampshire, two early primary states that delivered Trump some of his first wins in the 2016 nominating race.
As one of the 2024 presidential election candidates, Trump remains the de facto front-runner in the primary contest, taking a large lead over DeSantis in polling. Moreover, he’s abstained from head-to-head confrontations with other candidates, claiming that the whole primary process is unnecessary. In fact, Trump made the decision to not attend any of the race’s primary debates so far.
When it comes to his campaign, much of it has focused on his legal troubles. Trump has spent much of the campaign going from one courtroom to another between new indictments in Georgia and Washington and multiple civil trials in New York City.
Let’s see the rest of the 2024 presidential election candidates!
Nikki Haley (Republican)
Next on the list of 2024 presidential election candidates is Nikki Haley. A UN ambassador and a former South Carolina governor, she launched her presidential run in February 2023.
Despite lingering questions about whether she could truly have a chance in the 2024 primary, Haley has grown a considerable support base over time, threatening DeSantis as the bid’s second-most popular candidate.
As one of the 2024 presidential election candidates, Nikki relies on a campaign that focuses heavily on retail politics, which her allies say is her strength. According to them, she has done more than 50 town halls and events, has been meeting with voters, and has really earned every step.
We’ve seen the 2024 presidential election candidates belonging to a party. Now let’s see the independent candidates!
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Independent)
Initially, the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and son of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy announced his run for the Democratic nomination. Eventually, he chose to change his path to the White House, launching an independent campaign.
Known as a prominent anti-vaccine activist, Kennedy has also advocated for environmental causes throughout his life. He’s also founded a nonprofit organization called Children’s Health Defense that promotes anti-vaccine stances.
When it comes to his campaign, it has been focused on government skepticism, specifically against the COVID-19 vaccine and the government response to COVID-19.
Jill Stein (Independent)
Another name on the list of 2024 presidential election candidates is that of Jill Stein. She’s the former 2016 Green Party nominee, and she announced her independent bid for the 2024 race in early November.
According to her, belief in our political system is at historic lows, and the percentage of Americans who feel that neither party represents them is at a record high. In other words, she describes what would be a political crisis. Because of that, she believes that the nation needs real choices on the ballot.
Stein wrote on her website that she is running for the White House to offer people “a choice outside the failed two-party system.”
Cornel West (Independent)
West, a prominent progressive academic, initially entered the presidential race with a Peoples Party bid. However, he eventually changed affiliations to the Green Party, becoming a non-party candidate later.
Unlike other of the 2024 presidential election candidates, West brought up some pretty sensitive topics, claiming that “neither political party wants to tell the truth about Ukraine, about the Pentagon, about Wall Street, or about big tech.” So he chose to be an independent candidate.
According to his campaign announcement, the presidency is just one vehicle to pursue justice and truth, which is why he has been trying to do it all of his life.
If you liked our article on the 2024 presidential election candidates, you may also want to read These 6 States Will Decide Who Becomes the Next President. Also, if you want to read more about each president our country has had, here’s a book every history enthusiast must have.
