On July 21st, President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race. This shocked many due to him being the incumbent and his previous statements regarding how he would be running for president. In his X post, the president addressed this stating “while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in my best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.”

 What may have blind sighted some, was a longtime coming for this race. Polling had the president down in matches against republican candidate Donald Trump and several democrats including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, spoke to the president privately about him stepping down before the president did. 

But in his statement on X, President Biden put his support behind Kamala Harris and in August, the Vice President and her running mate Tim Waltz were officially given the nomination. The president’s statement occurred prior to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and the Republican National Convention (RNC).

Also prior to the RNC, while at a Rally in Butler, PA, a man identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate former president Donald Trump. Trump suffered an injury to his right ear due to a gun but was pronounced fine. Crooks was killed by the Secret Service. 

At the RNC, which happened July 15 through 18 two days after the assassination attempt on former president Trump, patrons were spotted wearing ear bandages in order to show support for the former president. At this convention, Trump officially received the presidential nomination from the committee and announced his running mate, JD Vance. Also at the convention, former governor Nikki Haley endorsed former president Trump. Previously, Haley ran against the former president. 

Now, both candidates are making their way through “battleground states” in order to persuade voters before the 2024 election. While some states such as Texas and California are expected to vote a certain way, other states such as Georgia or the crucial Pennsylvania are swing states, or battleground states, that could go to either party during a national election. According to the live polls on the New York Times website, the national polling average has Harris on top at 49% and Trump behind with 46%. As for the swing states, Harris leads in Michigan and Wisconsin with 49% and 49% respectively with Trump’s numbers being at 47% and 48% respectively. While Harris leads these states, Trump leads in Georgia with 49%  with Harris at 48%. The two candidates are tied in Arizona and Pennsylvania with each candidate having 48% in both states. However the numbers do change when Robert F. Kennedy is factored in. Though it is important to know that Kennedy has suspended his campaign and put his support behind former president Trump.  

Before President Biden dropped out of the running for the 2024 election, he and former president Trump debated. This was also before either had officially gotten the nomination from their party to be the nominee for this election. The two had also discussed having another debate before Biden dropped out. However when Vice President Harris took over, Trump was reluctant to debate. Now, according to CBS, the new presidential debate will happen on September 10th at the National Convention Center in Philadelphia. This was after Trump had previously said that he was “terminating” the debate that was set up for ABC and that they would do a debate on Fox News on Sept. 4 instead. Vice President Harris said, as quoted by CBS, that she hoped “to see him there.” about the Sept. 10 debate. As for the Vice Presidential debate, CBS invited JD Vance and Tim Waltz to participate in a debate on Oct. 1 and both have accepted. 

The presidential election will happen on Tuesday, Nov. 5 and will officially be between Vice President Harris and former President Trump. For more information about both candidates, platforms and issues can be found on both candidates websites as well as donation links to for candidates.