Leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election, the race was initially going to be between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. However, Biden would drop out of the election, and Vice President Kamala Harris would take his place in the race.
Meet The Candidates
Kamala Harris (Democratic Candidate)
Donald Trump (Republican Candidate)
Brief History
From 1990 to 1998, Harris served as Deputy District Attorney for Oakland California. During her time, Harris earned a reputation pertaining to her tough prosecution on drug trafficking, gang violence and sexual abuse. After getting promoted to District Attorney in 2004, Harris would hold the position for six years before getting narrowly elected as Attorney General of California in 2010; thus, becoming the first black women in California to hold the role. During her time in the position, Harris would notably help overturn California’s same-sex marriage bans under 2008’s Proposition 8. After winning the 2016 election to become a Senate member, Harris would serve in the Senate from 2017 to 2021. Harris would then run alongside Joe Biden in the 2020 Election to ultimately become the 49th Vice President. As of 2024, Harris is currently running alongside Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election.
Brief History
During the late 1960s’s and early 1970’s, Trump owned various housing developments that incited communal issues of racial discrimination towards African Americans. Ultimately, leading to Trump being sued by the U.S Justice Department, and in turn Trump suing the U.S Justice Department. Later, during the 1970’s and 1980’s, Trump would begin shifting towards developing, and owning, several real estate projects in Manhattan, and later many in Atlantic City. Within the 1990’s, a U.S economic recession would occur, and Trump would find himself in debt of $5 billion dollars; forcing him to majorly relocate various assets, and even take out several mortgages on properties, to not befall to bankruptcy. However, by the late 1990’s to mid 2000’s, Trump would bounce back financially. Following the publication of “The America We Deserve” and his rejoining of the Republican political party, Trump would later in 2016 run alongside Vice President Mike Pence to eventually win the election. However, after a very notable four years in presidency, Trump would lose reelection to Joe Biden in the 2020 Presidential Election. As of 2024, Trump is currently running alongside JD Vance in the 2024 Presidential Election.
Harris Promised To:
(Economy) Provide tax credits to lower and middle class families, lower drug costs, implement tax deductions for new small businesses, ban price-gouging on food and groceries, and create new jobs / investments in the manufacturing fields such as: iron, steel, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and more.
(Housing) Provide down payment support of up to $25,000 to new homeowners; this being an integral part in a proposed “three-section plan.”
(Health Care) Improve on the $35 cap on out-of-pocket monthly expenses for insulin, do the same with the $2000 annual limit on out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs generally to all citizens, expanding the influence of Medicare, provide more medical support to rural and communal regions through a grant-based program pertained towards healthcare professionals, increase funding towards first responders and medical technology, and be a supporter for abortion rights.
(Immigration) Maintain Joe Biden’s crackdown on asylum claims that are intended to reduce crossings in the border between the U.S and Mexico, and continuing support for the Partnership for Central America.
(Climate) Not enforce a ban against fracking, and uphold the Paris Climate Agreement.
Trump Promised To:
(Economy) Extend the 2017 TCJA tax cuts and individual tax breaks, reduce U.S sourced companies tax rates by up to 21%, end taxation on overtime pay, tipping, and Social Security Benefits, reduce government spending, get rid of the preexisting $10,000 limit on local and state tax, make interest paid on car loans tax deductible, and more.
(Housing) Increase housing affordability by instituting bans for mortgages made by undocumented immigrants.
(Health Care) Replace the Affordable Care Act in efforts to provide better health care with a new plan, make states have individual policies over abortion, not sign an abortion ban, make either the federal government or insurance companies help pay for IVF treatments, and continue support for the implementation of medicinal marijuana.
(Immigration) Use the Alien Enemies Act in order to remove immigrants that participate in illegal, or drug-based, activities from the U.S, establish greater federal enforcement upon immigration enforcement, and provide foreign nationals, that graduate from U.S colleges, with green cards.
(Climate) Remove several car pollution policies from the EPA, increase domestic energy production, and withdraw from Paris Climate Agreement.
A few UAG students were surveyed prior to the election about their thoughts on the candidates and election. Student A.A. was asked, “ Who do you believe will win and why?” His response was “I believe that, statistically, Trump will win since he is too iconic, and barely anybody knew Kamala before she became a candidate.” Anonymous student 1 was asked “How personally do you think the results of the election affect you?” their response was “Does not affect me too much, but it will, or it could, have a long-term effect.” Lastly Anonymous student 2 was asked “Are you at all interested in the upcoming presidential election? If so, why?”. Their response was “Yes, I am interested in the upcoming election because I believe the next four years will be important for determining how large a recession our country will be heading into based on our current financial status.”
Post Presidential Election Results
On November 5th of 2024, in a race to reach 270 electoral votes, Donald Trump would win the election with 312 electoral votes as opposed to Kamala Harris’s 226. Donald Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris can largely be attributed to him winning all seven, even though he realistically only needed three to four, battleground states of: Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia. Thus, Trump, following his upcoming inauguration ceremony on January 20th of 2025, will become the new 47th president of the United States.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kamala-Harris
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/08/politics/kamala-harris-key-issues-dg/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Donald-Trump
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/04/politics/trump-campaign-promises-dg