You remember that feeling in mid-2024? The air was thick with political ads and everyone seemed to be arguing at Thanksgiving. It’s early 2026 now, and looking back at the candidates for president 2024, it’s wild how much of the "common wisdom" at the time turned out to be totally off-base. Most people think it was just a two-person race that stayed the same from start to finish. Honestly, that’s not even close to the reality of what actually went down.
The 2024 cycle was a fever dream of legal drama, historic withdrawals, and a map that ended up looking very different than the pundits predicted.
The Heavy Hitters and the Summer Switch
Let's be real: for the longest time, it looked like a 2020 rematch. Donald Trump and Joe Biden were the presumptive nominees by March 12, 2024. But then June happened. That first debate changed everything. Biden’s performance led to a pressure cooker situation that finally burst on July 21, 2024, when he did something no eligible incumbent had done since LBJ in '68—he dropped out.
Suddenly, Kamala Harris wasn't just the Vice President; she was the face of the Democratic ticket. She grabbed the nomination without a traditional primary, which was a huge talking point for critics. She tapped Tim Walz, the Governor of Minnesota, as her VP. On the other side, Donald Trump had already survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, and picked Senator JD Vance of Ohio to be his running mate.
The stage was set.
💡 You might also like: Why the 2013 Moore Oklahoma Tornado Changed Everything We Knew About Survival
Third-Party Spoilers or Just Noise?
People always talk about third-party candidates for president 2024 like they’re going to flip the whole system. Did they? Kinda, but mostly no. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was the big "what if" for most of the year. He was pulling double digits in some early polls, which is unheard of for an independent.
But then he pulled a massive U-turn. In August 2024, RFK Jr. suspended his campaign and threw his support behind Trump. It was a messy exit—he tried to get off the ballot in swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin while staying on in others. Courts had to get involved. It was a headache for election officials.
Aside from him, you had:
- Jill Stein: Running again for the Green Party with Butch Ware.
- Chase Oliver: The Libertarian nominee who actually made a dent in some of the closer counties.
- Cornel West: Running as an independent with Melina Abdullah.
Why the Map Flipped
When the dust settled on November 5, 2024, the results were a gut punch to the pollsters. Trump didn't just win; he swept all seven swing states. Nevada, which hadn't gone Republican since 2004, flipped red. He ended up with 312 Electoral College votes to Harris’ 226.
📖 Related: Ethics in the News: What Most People Get Wrong
What really shocked people was the popular vote. For the first time since George W. Bush in 2004, a Republican candidate won the national plurality, coming in at about 49.8%.
The "why" is basically down to two things: the economy and immigration. Voters were tired of inflation. Even though the rates were technically dropping by late 2024, the price of eggs and gas at the local shop didn't feel "fixed." Trump leaned hard into his "America First" agenda and promised mass deportations, which resonated more than the Democrats' focus on abortion rights and "saving democracy."
The Legal Cloud That Never Rained Out
You can't talk about the candidates for president 2024 without mentioning the courtrooms. Trump was the first former president to be a convicted felon while running, following that hush-money trial in New York. There were 34 counts. People thought it would sink him.
It didn't.
👉 See also: When is the Next Hurricane Coming 2024: What Most People Get Wrong
If anything, his base saw the indictments as a badge of honor or "lawfare." The Supreme Court also stepped in with the Trump v. Anderson ruling, basically telling states like Colorado that they couldn't just kick him off the ballot using the 14th Amendment. It was a year where the Supreme Court was basically the third candidate in the room.
Actionable Insights for the Future
If you're looking at the political landscape today in 2026, here is what you should actually take away from the 2024 chaos:
- Ignore the early polls: They were consistently wrong about the margin of the popular vote and the strength of the "hidden" Trump voter.
- The "Rematch" is dead: The era of the Biden-Trump era is over, but the populism that 2024 solidified is the new baseline for the GOP.
- Watch the swing states: Nevada and Arizona are no longer "lean blue" or even "purple"—they are active battlegrounds that require a different kind of messaging than the Rust Belt.
- Digital influence is king: The 2024 cycle proved that traditional TV ads are losing ground to podcast appearances and viral social media moments.
The 2024 election wasn't just another vote. It was the moment the U.S. political system officially moved into a non-traditional, personality-driven era where the old rules of "incumbency advantage" and "legal disqualification" basically went out the window.