By Philip Berkwit
The 2024 election has come to an end. Former President, Donald Trump won the presidential election, beating Vice President Kamala Harris and becoming the president elect. This election also saw the republican party take control of both the Senate and the House, with these results having shown a historic change in politics.
Donald Trump famously won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton where Trump gained 304 electoral votes. However Trump did not win the popular vote in 2016. According to CNN, “The Democrat outpaced President-elect Donald Trump by almost 2.9 million votes, with 65,844,954 (48.2 percent) to his 62,979,879 (46.1 percent), according to revised and certified final election results from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.” Trump also lost the popular vote in 2020 against Joe Biden. According to 270towin.com, Biden received 81,268,867 votes compared to Trumps 74,216,747. However, the 2024 election had Donald Trump win the popular vote for the first time. According to The Associated Press, Trump gained 76,067,828 votes compared to Harris’ 73,134,187. This election did not just have Trump win the popular vote for the first time; it was also the first time a republican presidential nominee had gained the popular vote since George W. Bush in the 2004 election. Trump also won 312 electoral votes. This is the most electoral votes a republican candidate has won since 1988 when George H.W Bush won 426 electoral votes.
Donald Trump made an even bigger historic record by becoming both the 45th and the 47th president of The United States of America. He is the second president ever to win two terms inconsecutively. The 22nd and 24th president, Grover Cleveland was the only other president to do this. However, Cleveland was a democrat. This makes Trump the first republican to win inconsecutively.
Kamala Harris became the second ever woman to be the democratic presidential candidate, but she also became the second female democratic candidate to lose to Donald Trump. She also became the first democrat to not win Nevada since the 2004 election. Harris won the least number of electoral votes for a democratic nominee since Michael Dukakis in 1988. Harris is the first candidate to not flip a single county since 1932. The democrat’s performance in this election can easily be compared to the election of 1968. In the election of 1968, the current president, Lyndon B. Johnson chose not to run for reelection due to his unpopularity. Johnsons Vice President, Hubert Humphrey became the democrat’s candidate instead. However, Humphrey was only able to gain 191 electoral votes, while the republican candidate, Richard Nixon, gained 301. Likewise, during the 2024 election, the democrats had current president, Joe Biden drop out of the race in favor of his vice president, Kamala Harris. Bidens mental state was a topic of discussion by both parties. Although Harris got closer to victory than Humphrey did with 226 electoral votes, she was similarly defeated by the republican candidate.
This election also showed a victory for republicans in both the Senate and the House. According to fox9.com, “The last time the Republican Party (GOP) controlled the Senate, House and presidency was from January 20, 2017, to January 3, 2019.” During this lead, Donald Trump was also elected and serving as president.
When it comes to third parties, the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein ran for president for the third time. She ran as the Green Party’s candidate during 2016, 2020, and 2024. According to The Associated Press, she came in third in the 2024 race with 769,685 of the popular votes and 0 electoral votes. This is an increase from her 2020 performance where she gained 628,129 popular votes and 2016 where she only gained 27,638.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) was also set to be a big independent candidate. However, in August, RFK Jr. dropped out of the race and supported Donald Trump. He is now set to be in Trumps cabinet. Trump nominated RFK JR. to be his next Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy spent the majority of the 2024 campaign as an independent candidate but dropped out and endorsed Trump. He became a de-facto advisor on public health after joining the campaign, spinning off the catch phrase “Make America Healthy Again” from Trump’s trademark slogan.” Despite this, RFK Jr. Still came in 4th place in the presidential race with 746,375 popular votes.
The 2024 election has brought forth some of the most historic results in decades. This election revealed a huge change in popularity for both republicans, democrats and independents.
Pictured: Graphic made by Ryder Navarra
