Tumultuous election cycle nears conclusion with U.S. set to elect next president

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Tumultuous election cycle nears conclusion with U.S. set to elect next president

Published: 04 Nov. 2024, 11:02

Donald Trump, left, and Kamala Harris [AFP/YONHAP]

This year's U.S. election cycle has been marked by a string of unprecedented events from two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden's surprise exit from the White House race and the Republican candidate's conviction in a "hush-money" trial.

Two days ahead of Tuesday's general election, Democratic standard-bearer Vice President Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Trump are locked in a dead heat with polls showing slim margins in their races in battleground states that will likely decide the presidency.

U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Burns Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Oct. 28. [AFP/YONHAP]

Harris stepped into the race soon after Biden suspended his re-election campaign and endorsed the vice president on July 21 amid mounting pressure for him to step aside following a woeful debate performance in June that exacerbated concerns about the octogenarian's old age.

During his first televised debate with Trump, Biden lost his train of thought, misspoke and failed to articulate his views on certain issues while Trump ramped up his criticism of Biden's policy initiatives.

Dismissing the dismal debate performance as a one-off episode and stressing age as a source of "wisdom," Biden tried to squelch concerns about his age. But the efforts failed to quell mounting calls from Democratic leaders and others to bow out.

It was unprecedented in America's modern history that despite dominating state-by-state nomination contests, a presidential candidate ended his campaign just weeks before a party convention. Since the early 1950s, two Democratic presidents — Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson — have desisted from running for another term during an election year.

President Joe Biden speaks during an event about his "Investing in America" agenda, on Oct. 29 at the Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore. [AP/YONHAP]

Biden's withdrawal came a little over a week after Trump survived an assassination attempt on July 13, which appeared to have further cemented the former president's political support base and drew more voter attention to his campaign.

Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state, in an attempt that underscored intense political division and enmity — a hallmark of this election season. The shooting incident was followed by another attempt on Trump's life on Sept. 15.

Former President Donald Trump is escorted off the stage after being shot at during a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Wearing a bandage on his wounded right ear, Trump appeared at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 15. During his nomination acceptance speech days later, Trump made an emphatic call for national unity.

"The discord and division in our society must be healed. We must heal it quickly. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny," he said, vowing to launch a new era for "citizens of every race, religion, color and creed."

At the Milwaukee convention, Trump announced Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his vice presidential running mate.

Vance has transformed himself from a vocal critic of Trump to a staunch loyalist — a shift that saw him rising up the political ladder.

Republican vice presidential nominee, JD Vance, speaks at a campaign rally at Radford University on July 22, 2024 in Radford, Virginia. [AFP/GETTY/YONHAP]

He is known to be closely aligned with Trump's views on election-season issues ranging from immigration to the war in Ukraine. He has also joined the claim that the 2020 election race was "stolen" from Trump.

The launch of Harris' campaign set the stage for a showdown between the two candidates who are sharply different in terms of age, gender, race, political inclinations and policy orientation.

Harris' entry into the race created much enthusiasm among once-demoralized Democrats, saw a substantial fund-raising haul and reshaped a race viewed as more favorable to Trump at the time.
The vice president officially earned the necessary number of delegate votes in a virtual voting process in early August. Later, she named Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — a former six-term lawmaker, social studies teacher and football coach — as her running mate.

Minnesota Governor and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz speaks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 21. [AFP/YONHAP]

Walz, a plainspoken politician, got into the spotlight when he described Trump and other Republicans as "weird" in recent media appearances. That expression has been popularized in political discourse both online and offline during this election cycle.

The Democratic Party held its national convention in Chicago, Illinois, in August to fete Harris as the party's flag-bearer.

In her nomination acceptance speech, Harris underlined her commitment to promoting unity among all Americans and charting a "new way forward" rather than "going back." If elected on Tuesday, she would become the nation's first female president and Asian American president.

"I want you to know I promise to be a president for all Americans. You can always trust me to put country above party and self, to hold sacred America's fundamental principles, from the rule of law to free and fair elections to the peaceful transfer of power," she said.

"I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations, a president who leads and listens, who is realistic, practical and has common sense, and always fights for the American people. From the courthouse to the White House, that has been my life's work."

As the presidential contest heated up, Harris and Trump locked horns over hot-button issues, striving to court undecided voters, particularly in swing states like Pennsylvania.

Harris' campaign has cast Trump as a danger to democracy and highlighted her focus on supporting the middle class, small businesses and others, and protecting reproductive rights.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he speaks at a campaign rally at Lee's Family Forum in Henderson, Nevada, Oct. 31. [AFP/YONHAP]

Trump has tried to tie unpopular aspects of Biden's policy to the vice president, attacking the incumbent government for inflation and a rise in illegal immigrants.

The first — and only — debate between Harris and Trump in Philadelphia on Sept. 10 was largely seen as a win for the vice president, as the former president was seen being put on the defensive and made debunked claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, had been stealing and eating pets.

The only vice presidential debate between Walz and Vance took place in New York on Oct. 1. With neither seen as a decisive winner in the televised showdown, the debate was largely seen as an even match.

On his way toward Election Day, Trump's campaign has been beset by legal woes.

On May 30, a New York jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to silence an adult film star about an alleged extramarital affair ahead of the 2016 presidential election, according to news reports. The verdict made Trump the first former president to be convicted of a crime.

During internal party primaries and caucuses earlier this year, both Trump and Biden bagged easy wins. Harris won the nomination as the only party candidate following Biden's withdrawal from the race.
To occupy the Oval Office, a candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes out of the total 538 representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Seven battleground states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina — are expected to play an outsize role in hitting that magic number.

It remains uncertain when a winner will be named. In the 2020 election that proceeded amid Covid-19, Biden's victory was announced four days after the vote. But the 2016 election was called for Trump in the wee hours of the morning after Election Day.

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