The 2024 Presidential Election is shaping up to be a very contentious election, but before the situation heats up, primaries will determine who the candidates will be for the mainstream political parties. The Presidential Primaries are going to be held April 23rd 2024 in the state of Pennsylvania, which means voters need to know who the candidates are and what they stand for before casting their ballot. 

The Democratic Party’s presidential primary consists of three main candidates, incumbent President Joe Biden, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, and Marianne Williamson. Each candidate has their own diverse stances on the issues, but an incumbent president has never been primaried out in United States history, meaning it is extremely unlikely that President Joe Biden loses his primary. 

Here is a brief rundown of each candidate’s values and beliefs: 

Joe Biden: Biden wants to focus on gun control laws, protecting LGBTQ+ rights, expanding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law, and helping protect immigrants that have the right to seek asylum. He will focus on many of the issues tackled during the 2020 presidential election.

Marianne Williamson: Marianne Williamson believes that Joe Biden is not doing enough for the American people as President. She believes in taking more action on social reform and economic reform. She believes in a more hands on approach to help combat social issues compared to Joe Biden and to make more of an impact to benefit the American people. She believes in many things the president does but she has some more unique standings emphasizing, combating climate change, protecting Women’s rights, Animal Protection, Food Safety, and free tuition for colleges. One controversy concerning voters is that in 2019 she had a few alternative takes on vaccines and mental health but has since appeared to recant all previous statements regarding them.

Robert F Kennedy Jr: Robert Kennedy Jr. is the most moderate candidate in the field which could be an issue for rallying Democratic voters behind his candidacy. He claims that he wants to bring back the “Kennedy Democrat” which takes on a more populist approach to garnering support from both political parties. He believes in protecting the environment by incentivizing clean energy, anti-war, protecting freedom of speech, and reducing incarceration, and having a secure border but supporting asylum for immigrants. He has also been put in controversy within the Democratic Party by being considered Anti-Vaxx due to him urging parents to not vaccinate their children during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Now, the Republican Party’s presidential primary is packed, and has over 15 candidates running for the nomination within the Republican Party. Many of the candidates are running in opposition of former President Donald Trump because of his many felonies and the handling of the January 6th protestors. 

For simplicity’s sake, the following list only includes the Republican candidates who consistently poll above 5% in aggregate polls. Here are the candidates and their beliefs:

Donald Trump: Donald Trump is the current frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president. He is running on the issues of a heavily protected border, endorsing the use of fossil fuels, advocating for less gun control, increasing police spending, and many other socially conservative ideas. 

Ron Desantis: Ron Desantis is running a very similar campaign to Donald Trump but is placing himself as a more “electable” version of Donald Trump. He is running on his record as Florida’s governor and his values are almost identical to Donald Trumps besides his more aggressive tone towards progressive ideas and potentially being more socially conservative. 

Vivek Ramaswamy: Vivek Ramaswamy is the furthest right candidate on this list. He claims to be making the “MAGA 2.0” movement like Trump started in 2016. He directly wants to shut down many agencies within the United States including, the Department of Education, FBI, IRS, and more. He is also the only candidate that would pardon Trump for his crimes. He also claims that climate change is a hoax. He promotes energy independence from all foreign countries. 

These primaries are going to determine who will run in the General Election for president of the United States. Many factors go into determining who the nominee will be like past election results, current issues, and popularity of the candidate with their messaging. Currently the polls for the Republican Primary have Donald Trump leading over RonDesantis. The Democratic Primary currently has President Joe Biden leading the polls over Robert Kennedy Jr. There will be general election coverage once the primaries are over, so stay tuned!