Who Is Running for President in 2024?

The 2024 presidential race is well underway as White House hopefuls jockey for their party’s nomination, the field narrows and the top contenders take shape.

Former President Donald Trump was the first to declare his candidacy for the Republican nomination in November 2022, vowing a comeback after his defeat in 2020 to President Joe Biden. Despite cooling enthusiasm from some in the party, Trump is still considered the front-runner for the nomination.

On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden declared his reelection bid in late April, setting up a possible rematch with Trump. He is campaigning on his first-term record and policy changes he hopes to enact with the opportunity of another term.

This article will be updated frequently to reflect developments in the presidential race.

Bio: Biden wants one more term to “finish the job,” he says in his reelection pitch to voters. The longtime Delaware resident, who was a senator for decades before serving as vice president under President Barack Obama, is running on his first-term record, touting accomplishments on infrastructure, the economy and civil rights. He is also running on a platform of protecting abortion rights and addressing LGBTQ issues. But he faces scrutiny over his advanced age and fitness – scrutiny he has only just started to address – and approval ratings that range from middling to dismal. With no serious Democratic challengers, Biden is considered the presumptive Democratic nominee to face off with the winner of the Republican primary.

Bio: Trump has launched a third bid for the White House after losing to President Joe Biden in 2020. He is facing headwinds from a party that has become more uncertain about his role as its flag-bearer. Trump is also the subject of a number of federal and state investigations but has derided the probes as “witch hunts” and pledged to continue his run even if he were to be indicted. Despite his political baggage and recent challenges, Trump still commands a significant and enthusiastic base of supporters that could be the key to his nomination should the rest of the GOP field split the non-Trump vote.

Bio: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is widely seen as the most formidable challenge to Trump’s bid following his landslide reelection as governor in November. The governor has leaned into culture war issues, declaring a war on “woke” culture and moving to the right of Trump on several issues. He has focused heavily on education reform, restricted racial diversity and inclusion efforts at the college level, and pushed through so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bills that ban the discussion of sexual orientation and gender issues in school. While DeSantis has touted his policy agenda in Florida as a blueprint for the rest of the country, some Republicans are worried that his heavy-handed policy-making and intense focus on culture war issues could alienate some voters, both in the primary and the general elections.

Bio: Haley was considered a rising star in the Republican Party when she became the first female governor of South Carolina in 2010. After serving two terms, Haley was appointed ambassador to the United Nations by President Trump. Though she initially said she would not challenge Trump for the nomination, Haley did a U-turn and has since leaned hard into her identity as a child of Indian immigrants. She has left her moderate roots to embrace the party’s current culture wars and has repeatedly called for a “new generation” of Republican leadership, while proposing mandatory cognitive testing for all politicians over the age of 75 – a thinly veiled shot at both Trump and Biden.

Bio: Hutchinson is a GOP veteran with a long resume, including stints as a member of Congress – when he was one of 13 House managers of the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton – a U.S. attorney, an undersecretary in the Department of Homeland Security and as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. He most recently served as the governor of Arkansas from 2015 to earlier this year. Hutchinson comes from an earlier, more establishment-oriented wing of the party, and has carved out a lane for himself in the Republican primary by being among the few to openly criticize Trump and state that he should drop out of the race. That approach will likely alienate the roughly 30% of the Republican base that are diehard Trump supporters.

Bio: A Harvard graduate and multimillionaire biopharmaceutical entrepreneur, Ramaswamy has made a name for himself in conservative circles as a crusader against so-called “wokeness.”

“Faith, patriotism and hard work have disappeared, only to be replaced by new secular religions like Covidism, climatism and gender ideology,” Ramaswamy said in an announcement video.

He is the author of two books focused on opposition to social justice issues and rejects diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. He has spoken out in particular against environmental, social and governance (ESG) movements – a framework for corporations to use in financial decision-making. Ramaswamy announced his bid during an appearance on Fox News and is not as of now considered a serious contender for the nomination.

Bio: Binkley is a CEO from Texas, where he helms Generational Equity Group, a mergers & acquisitions firm, and serves as the co-founder and lead pastor at a church in Richardson, Texas. Binkley is largely unknown at the national level, and is running a campaign focused on traditional conservative values.

Bio: Williamson, a prolific self-help author and former frequent guest on Oprah Winfrey’s show, is running for the White House for the second time, becoming the only Democrat thus far to challenge Joe Biden, who has not formally declared his candidacy but is broadly expected to run for reelection. Williamson ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020 but dropped out of the race just before primary elections were started. Williamson made headlines during that contest for unique and eyebrow-raising comments. She is running this time on a progressive agenda with an emphasis on social justice issues.

Bio: Kennedy – the son of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated during his 1968 primary campaign, and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy – is an author and a trial lawyer who specialized in environmental law early in his career. He has emerged over the last decade and a half as a leading voice of the anti-vaccine movement, work which intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Kennedy released a book titled “The Real Anthony Fauci,” which disparaged the leading public health office in the country at the time and promoted misinformation about the coronavirus, vaccines and treatments. Though he enjoys the name recognition inherent in the Kennedy lineage, his anti-vaccine activism has been widely criticized, including by members of his own family, and puts him on the fringes of the Democratic Party. Kennedy, who began his White House bid as a Democrat, decided in October to run as an independent.

Bio: A longtime activist whose work centers on race and class, West entered the presidential race under the banner of the People’s Party, a third-party, leftist group but is now running as an independent. West is a public intellectual and socialist who has been active in Democratic politics for decades, and backed Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Democratic presidential primary runs in 2016 and 2020.

“I enter in the quest for truth, I enter in the quest for justice, and the presidency is just one vehicle to pursue that truth and justice – something I’ve been trying to do all my life,” West said in an announcement video on June 5.

Bio: The third-term member of Congress from Minnesota launched a last-minute bid for the White House citing concern that Biden cannot defeat Trump in a 2024 matchup. Phillips – considered a moderate Democrat – is among the wealthiest members of Congress, with ties to prominent liquor and gelato businesses.

Bio: Former Vice President Mike Pence took on his ex-boss and running mate Trump for the GOP nomination, attempting to position himself as a staunchly conservative – yet level-headed – option for voters tired of Trump’s brash leadership style. He is devoutly religious and targeted evangelical voters and others who share his socially and fiscally conservative policy viewpoint. Pence has backed a national abortion ban and other hard-line social policies. While he touts the accomplishments of the Trump-Pence administration, his challenge was to separate himself from the former president while also attempting not to alienate Trump supporters – some of whom would never vote for him because of his role in certifying the 2020 election results.

Bio: A senator from South Carolina and the only Black Republican senator in the chamber, Scott entered the race as a long-shot candidate with a sizable war chest and a number of backers. He leaned heavily on his personal story as a native South Carolinian and the son of an impoverished single mother, countering the doom-and-gloom narratives of some other candidates with one of optimism and the American Dream. Scott struggled to walk a tightrope on race with his party, calling out Republicans for racist comments while also slamming what he has described as Democrats’ political weaponization of racial issues.

Bio: A former U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, Christie was elected governor of the state in 2009 and reelected in 2013. He was embroiled in controversy during his second term, when communications from top aides showed that lane closures on a busy bridge were implemented in response to a Democratic mayor’s decision not to endorse Christie’s reelection campaign. A federal investigation cleared Christie of direct involvement in the scandal, but the issue has continued to plague him. He ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016 but dropped out early in the primary, throwing his support behind Trump. After being a staunch Trump supporter during his term, Christie has done a U-turn, and now enters the primary as one of Trump’s biggest critics. Christie is expected to try to appeal to traditional Republicans, but he has struggled in early polls.

Bio: Elder is a conservative radio talk show host and regular on Fox News. He ran for office for the first time in California in 2021 during a failed recall election targeting Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Though the recall failed by a big margin, Elder received the most votes of any replacement candidate. Elder has criticized Democrats’ focus on social justice issues, and he shares many of his fellow Republicans’ opinions on issues including COVID-19 mitigation measures and abortion. Elder has been a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump and endorsed the former president when he withdrew from the race.

Bio: The North Dakota governor launched a long-shot bid in early June, focusing on economic and social issues and stressing his small-town roots. Burgum, who was elected in 2016 and reelected in 2020, has put the economy as the country’s top priority. He has signed staunchly conservative laws in his state, including a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Burgum is unknown nationally and struggled to make the debate stage after the second confrontation.

Bio: Johnson is a wealthy businessman who earned his fortune by founding Michigan-based Perry Johnson Registrars Inc., which certifies businesses for meeting industry regulations. Johnson ran for the 2022 Republican nomination for Michigan governor but was disqualified after the state board of elections determined that he submitted thousands of fraudulent signatures during the primary qualification process. Johnson ran an ad in Iowa – one of the early GOP primary states – during the Super Bowl and spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference. He announced his campaign after that speech and based his campaign on a plan to cut federal spending by 2% every year.

Bio: Laffey is a former investment banking executive who also served as the mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, from 2003 to 2007. His long-shot bid was anchored by his calls for financial reform, including changes to Social Security and for the U.S. to stop trading with China. Laffey is unknown on the national level and struggled with name recognition. He has made a series of unsuccessful state-level runs for office in the past in Colorado.

Bio: The former undercover CIA officer and member of Congress entered the race as an outspoken critic of Trump, warning of a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024. First elected to Congress in 2014, Hurd didn’t seek reelection in 2020 as his prospects in the competitive Texas district appeared to worsen after a narrow victory two years prior. Upon his withdrawal from the race for the GOP nomination, Hurd endorsed Haley for president.

Bio: The second-term mayor of Miami was among the last to announce a bid for the White House of the Republican field, running to be the first sitting mayor and first Hispanic president. Suarez became the first candidate to drop out, after he failed to qualify for the first GOP debate.