By Susan Heavey, Smoking Coasts
(Reuters) – Former Republican President Donald Trump will face Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election after President Joe Biden ended his re-election bid.
A number of independent candidates are also competing for the position. Below is a list of the candidates.
Republican Party
Donald Trump
Trump, 78, clinched the Republican nomination at his party’s convention in July in Milwaukee, just days after surviving an assassination attempt at a campaign rally.
Trump has continued to repeat his false claim that Democrats stole the 2020 election as he launches his third bid for the White House amid unprecedented legal challenges, including a new indictment over efforts to undermine his 2020 loss.
Since taking office from 2017 to 2021, he has framed his indictments in four criminal cases as a political attack against him and his supporters, vowed “revenge” on perceived political enemies and adopted increasingly dystopian rhetoric.
Trump became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime in May in New York, and he still faces charges in the United States and the state of Georgia over his attempts to undermine the 2020 election. He was also the first president to be impeached twice.
A federal judge dismissed separate charges that he illegally retained classified documents after leaving office, but prosecutors have appealed. Trump denies any wrongdoing.
The remaining cases are unlikely to reach trial before the November election, while a New York judge has delayed a verdict in Trump’s conviction on charges of falsifying documents to cover up a payment.
Trump, who has chosen U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate, has refused to commit to accepting the 2024 election results or ruling out potential political violence, laying the groundwork to challenge a potential election loss. He has also threatened to sue election officials, donors and others if he is reelected.
Trump is the oldest candidate for the US presidency and would be the country’s second-oldest president if he wins in November, after Biden, who will be 82 when his term ends next January.
Trump has pledged to pardon jailed supporters of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, calling them “warriors.” He will also seek the power to replace federal civil servants with loyalists.
A group of pro-Trump think tanks is promoting a sweeping policy agenda known as Project 2025 that targets diversity programs and the independence of the Justice Department, among other plans. Trump has sought to distance himself from the project despite the involvement of several of his former aides.
On foreign policy, Trump has pledged to fundamentally change the U.S.-NATO relationship and resolve the war in Ukraine through potential peace talks that could require Kiev to cede territory.
Trump has made immigration a major issue in his domestic campaign, promising mass deportations, ending birthright citizenship, and imposing a broad travel ban on people from certain countries, among other measures.
On abortion, Trump credits the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and says abortion laws should be left to the states. Trump has said he does not support bans on contraception.
Trump has also vowed to undo much of the Biden administration’s work to combat climate change. Trump has faced criticism, including from fellow Republicans, for personal attacks on Harris, including over her race.
Trump appointed former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to his transition team after Kennedy suspended his independent run for president.
Trump has pledged to appoint billionaire Elon Musk, who he has endorsed, to head the Commission on Efficiency in Government, and the National Police Organization and several other police groups have also backed his campaign.
Democratic Party
Kamala Harris
Harris, 59, won the Democratic nomination after Biden ended his re-election bid, allowing Democrats to present a different vision of America in contrast to Trump’s agenda as they launched their convention and sought to revive their coalition of young voters, people of color and suburban women.
Biden’s exit and endorsement of Harris comes after weeks of partisan turmoil following his poor performance in the June 27 debate with Trump. Harris and Trump debate Tuesday night.
Harris, a former U.S. senator, California attorney general and local prosecutor, became the first woman and person of color to serve as vice president after Biden selected her as his running mate in the 2020 election. If she wins, she would become the first woman to serve as president in the country’s 248-year history.
Polls show Harris in a close race against Trump.
Harris leads the former president nationally by 45 percent to 41 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Aug. 29. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in July gave Harris a one-percentage-point lead.
Recent polls have also shown Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, gaining ground in several swing states and on issues like crime and the economy. But in the seven swing states that could decide the election — Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan and Nevada — Trump led Harris 45 percent to 43 percent among registered voters in a Reuters/Ipsos poll in August.
Harris is expected to largely stick to Biden’s foreign policy playbook on key issues such as Ukraine, China and Iran. She has also pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, but she has also taken a tough stance against Hamas, saying the militant group must be “annihilated,” and remains committed to U.S. policy of arming Israel.
She has laid out an economic plan that includes proposals to cut taxes for most Americans, ban what she calls “price gouging” by grocery stores, build more affordable housing, and introduce a new child tax credit.
She also proposed raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%. Her positions on climate and energy are similar to those of Biden, who has made combating climate change a top priority.
Harris is seen as tech-friendly even as she addresses alleged competition and privacy issues, and has sought to reassure donors that she supports capitalism.
Leaders of major labor groups, including the Service Employees International Union, the United Auto Workers, and the American Federation of Teachers, have endorsed her presidential bid, and former U.S. military officials and corporate executives have also publicly endorsed her.
Independents
Cornel West
The political activist, philosopher and academic is seeking a third-party presidential nomination aimed at appealing to more progressive and Democratic voters.
West, 71, had initially run as a Green Party candidate, but in October said people “want good politics instead of partisan politics” and declared himself an independent. He promised to end poverty and guarantee housing.
Green Party
Jill Stein
Stein, 74, a physician who ran under the Green Party in 2016, is seeking to run again in 2024.
She launched her current campaign accusing Democrats of betraying their promises “to workers, youth, and the climate over and over again — while Republicans don’t even make such promises in the first place.”
Liberal Party
Chase Oliver
While the Libertarian Party invited both Trump and Kennedy to speak at its convention in late May, it ultimately chose Oliver, 39. Oliver is running for a Georgia Senate seat in 2022 and received 2% of the vote.