Jacob Francy, '26
The 2024 Presidential Election is officially underway, and the results have been as expected so far. President Joe Biden (D), Former President Donald Trump (R), and Former Gov. Nikki Haley (R) are the final candidates just 10 months before election day.
The Republican Iowa Caucus, which took place on January 15, was the first and last stop for many fringe candidates in the GOP Primaries. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy suspended his campaign after finishing in 4th place, earning only 3 delegates. He immediately endorsed the front-runner, Former President Trump, who gained the most delegates from Iowa with 20.
Days after the results came in, Governor Ron DeSantis, who finished a distant 2nd place announced he would drop out of the race and also endorsed Former President Trump to be the Republican nominee. Around the same time, Sen. Tim Scott, who had previously dropped out of the race months before, announced his fellow endorsement to Trump, who now holds the majority of endorsements from major figures in the Republican party.
Nikki Haley is still continuing to campaign and fight against Trump. Moderates and other Republican public figures that have swayed away from the extremist MAGA wing of the party, like New Hampshire’s governor, have endorsed her, but it doesn’t seem to help at all. Trump is commanding the lead with over 50% in almost every poll.
Update: The New Hampshire Primaries took place on January 23 with only the three notable candidates left in both parties. Nikki Haley started off with a strong start early in the night, just 2,000 votes behind Trump until about 20% of the estimated vote came in where he took a permanent lead in front of her by over 65,000 votes. President Biden expectedly won his own party’s primary election easily as a write-in option. At the end of the night, Haley accepted the results of the election, but with her home state of South Carolina where she previously served as Governor next on the campaign trail, she hasn’t given up yet. Trump, on the other hand, ended in a very Trump-like way. After he once again lied about the 2020 election results, the Democrats’ tax and fiscal policies, his past history of “winning” in New Hampshire in general elections, and more, he ended the night celebrating among his loyal disciples.
The nominees seem to be pretty obvious already, leading to a rematch between current President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump. It’s very rare in American history when a former President runs to regain the White House, but now the voters have a choice between two men who have both served a full term each. Whatever this election brings will be sure to also exert some chaos along with it.