On the Tuesday after the first Monday of every November, Americans 18 or older gather every 4 years to carry out one of their civic duties: voting for a President. The citizens choose between Democrat and Republican based on many different factors: Are they the right fit? What are their policies? Can they be trusted to do what the country needs? This year, the two main candidates are Vice President and Former Senator from California, Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump. In this article, I will be doing a deep dive on each candidate's life, career and policies. Before the article commences, there may be bias toward a certain candidate, so please forgive me if I do show bias.
Kamala Devi Harris was born in Oakland, California on October 20th, 1964. She was born into a middle class family of a Jamaican-American father of African descent, and an Indian mother. She worked at a McDonalds as a high school student and is a graduate of Howard University. She was the 27th Attorney General of San Francisco, 32nd Attorney General of California, and then became a Senator from the same state.
Then, her most historic achievement was becoming the first African and Asian-American and first female Vice President. During her career, she advocated for stricter gun control, legalization of cannabis, The DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act, reducing taxes and inflation, and withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. She had previously ran for president in 2020 and dropped out, but was nominated and won for Vice President of the Biden Administration. After Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, Biden endorsed his running mate, Harris. She later nominated Minnesota governor Tim Walz to be her running mate.
Donald John Trump was born in Queens, New York on June 14, 1946. He went to Fordham University and transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated. He was the President of his father’s real estate company turned renovation company, the Trump Organization. He was the host of the reality TV show “The Apprentice”. He previously ran and won his bid for President in 2016.
During his Presidency, he implemented a family separation act, diverted military funding to strengthen the US-Mexico border, eliminated the individual health insurance mandate penalty from the Affordable Care (ObamaCare) Act, withdrew from the Paris agreement on climate change, a major trade agreement between multiple Pacific-Rim countries (Trans-Pacific Partnership), and the Iran Nuclear Deal. He is also the only president to be impeached twice (once for abuse of power and again for incitement of insurrection. Trump also refused to concede the election results after he lost his 2020 bid, partly encouraged the January 6th attacks, and spread widespread misinformation of widespread voter fraud. After his presidency, he was found liable for abuse, defamation and financial fraud, and 34 felony counts related to hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. For his 2024 running mate, he nominated Senator JD Vance instead of former Vice President Mike Pence.
During Harris’ 2024 campaign, she won the Democratic nomination for President and had numerous rallies and interviews on podcasts and news channels, such as “Call Her Daddy”, “FOX News”, and the TV show “The View”. Her campaign promises include banning price gouging, expanding child tax credit, making an economic plan that benefits the middle class people, and bringing down the cost of care.
During Trump’s campaign, he won the Republican nomination for president, also had many rallies, one of which he survived an assassination attempt, had another one at a golf course in Florida, and had a town hall on CNN. His campaign promises include to also expand child tax credit, carrying out the largest mass deportation in American history, putting a massive tariff on things imported from China, and ending the Affordable Care Act.
If Harris won the election, she would be the second consecutive president to be promoted from Vice President to President, the first being President Joe Biden. She would also be the first female and Asian-American president in American History. If Trump wins, he would be the second president to have non-consecutive terms, and will continue the pattern of Democrat-Republican starting with Bill Clinton. But, these won’t actually happen until we get the results on Election Day;, and as of 2024, Kamala and Trump are tied in polls at 48% each, which could make for one of the closest elections in history.
That wraps up my article on the 2024 Election. Although there are third-party candidates, I will not be covering those candidates in this article. This election is a very important one, so feel free to talk with parents, friends, and peers about their thoughts on this topic. Thanks for reading!