Presidential Election 2024

The 2024 Presidential Election is already tomorrow, and understanding the current options for president is vital in choosing who to vote for. It’s imperative to do research and find information on the candidates before making that decision, so here are some brief summaries and key points on them.

The five candidates running are Kamala Harris (Democratic), Donald J. Trump (Republican), Cornel West (Unaffiliated), Jill Stein (Green Party), and Chase Oliver (Libertarian). Of the group, they all have very opposing policies and stances, and have been marketing their campaigns in completely different ways. 

Currently, Trump and Harris are both neck and neck, making it difficult to pick a clear leader in the polls, while the other three candidates are falling behind in votes. Both the presidential and vice presidential debates have been held.

Here are the main points of each candidate’s campaigns:

Donald J. Trump

Donald J. Trump is a 78 year old republican who has served as president before (2017-2021). He is running for a 3rd time, and if he wins, he would be the only nonconsecutive president in our history other than Grover Cleveland. He has over 200 million dollars in fees to pay off, and about 91 felonies coming to light; he also was threatened with impeachment on two occasions. 

In his last presidency, he imposed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (a document that cut taxes for individuals and lowered corporal tax rates) and “zero tolerance” policies on immigration (guaranteed prosecution instead of deportation). He also overturned Roe v. Wade, meaning abortion is regulated by states’ government. He is also planning to impose Agenda47, an article on new rules, implications, and policies such as his new stance on LGBTQ rights, immigration, and even new tax rules. 

He is anti-abortion, pro-deportation, and pro 1st amendment. He wants to ban LGBTQ+ books and trans-athleticism, along with pushing for putting LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and rights for African Americans under the same umbrella of federal law. 

He believes in “America first”, and he wants to withdraw from the Trans-Atlantic Partnership (a trade agreement between 26 countries in the EU and the U.S.A.), INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty), UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council), UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), and the Paris agreement (a climate change treaty between the EU and 193 other parties).

Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris is the current vice president under Joe Biden, originally having run in the election herself but stepping down and becoming Biden’s running mate. She’s a 59-year-old democrat, former California Senator, and even farther back, a prosecutor. If she wins this election, she will become the first female and Indian president in the history of America. She replaced the former Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, and is running with Tim Waltz, who is the current Minnesota Governor. 

If elected, her main goals for the American economy are to provide support for lower classes while making the higher classes contribute their fair share in taxes, to make more affordable jobs and higher wages, and to lower costs on education and healthcare. She also promises, if elected, full legalization of recreational marijuana. 

With immigration, she wants to give other countries better jobs and more affordable housing so that coming to the U.S. is less appealing. 

Harris is pro-choice and has made her dedication to ending the overturn of Roe V. Wade a significant part of her campaign, believing that access to abortion is a right given by the federal government rather than the states. 

In her 2019 campaign, Harris made statements in favor of banning fracking, but currently is denying that she said this, and claimed during the debate that she is against banning fracking, and her values have never changed on the topic.

Chase Oliver

Chase Oliver is a 39-year-old libertarian who is new to the presidential world; he ran for Congress in 2020 and for senate in 2022, losing both by a large margin. He believes in letting the people make their own decisions without government dictation; he is pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ+, and anti-deportation.

In his life, he was an activist for the war on drugs, criminal justice, and LGBTQ+ rights. He wants to advocate to expunge non-violent drug crimes and help shift from prosecution to getting help to addicts. He wants to create alternatives for incarceration, such as rehabilitation. He wants to get rid of our current prison structure and is calling for improvements; he believes prison should be formatted as less of a punishment and more of a reformation. 

His strong advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights stems from his own experiences as a gay man. He believes that transgender and non-binary people deserve to have gender-affirming care; he will work to get transgender rights and make transitioning legal documents easier. He wants to add sexual discrimination, transphobia, and homophobia under hate speech. 

Jill Stein

Jill Stein is the Green Party nomination; she is a physician, activist, and is known for her work in the green party. She is 74 years old and has a degree in medicine from Harvard Med School. She ran for president twice (2012 and 2016 for the Green Party).

She wants to enforce policies like the Green New Deal, which aims to move the U.S. to 100% renewable energy and create millions of new, simple-structured jobs. This will create new jobs for people and help clean our world. 

She is pushing for free higher education and canceling all student debt; her belief is that education is a part of life and required for a good life. She also wants to end standardized tests in school, end privatization of schools, fully fund K-12 public schools, give more arts and civics access, and give more adult training and education. 

She also supports LGBTQ+ rights and wants to protect the community from hate and discrimination. She is fighting for queer marriage, transitions, and even protecting against hate speech and discrimination. She wants to put the Equality Act into place, which would protect queer individuals from hate and public discrimination.

Cornel West

Cornel West is a 71 year old philosopher who was running independently, meaning he isn’t a certain winged runner, but transitioned to the Green Party. He is a social critic, political activist, and public intellectual. He has taught at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, teaching physiology courses and has engaged in public speaking and lectures widely. 

He wants to push for better wages, better quality of life, and affordable housing. He will fight for a higher minimum wage (≈$20), strengthen workers’ rights, bump up paid and maternity leave, and even give more benefits. His overall mission is to make life easier to live.  

He also plans to add single-payer universal healthcare and lower prices of prescription medication; West thinks that healthcare is a human right and wants to protect that right. He also wants to expand mental health care and substance abuse help along with preventive care, long-term care, women’s and reproductive care, and funding control. 

What to Take Away

All of the twists and turns of the 2024 Election, from changed candidates to attempted assassinations, the bustle and confusion in the news can make finding unbiased and factual information seem impossible. These summaries of the candidates’ campaigns are here to provide a clearer and more direct starting off point for research. 

Now more than ever, it is crucial to make final decisions on who to vote for. This election has proven to be one for the history books, and it’s incredible to be alive for it.