By Costas Pitas, Susan Heavey
(Reuters) -Republican former President Donald Trump will face Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid.
Several third-party hopefuls are also running. Here is a list of the candidates.
REPUBLICAN PARTY
DONALD TRUMP
Trump, 78, secured the Republican nomination at his party’s July convention in Milwaukee, just days after surviving an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in July.
An apparent assassination attempt took place in September when a man was spotted with a rifle hiding in the bushes at Trump’s golf course in Florida.
Trump has continued to repeat his false claim that Democrats stole the 2020 election as he makes his third bid for the White House amid unprecedented legal challenges, including a fresh indictment over efforts to subvert his 2020 loss.
In office from 2017 to 2021, he has cast his indictments in four criminal cases as a political attack against him and his supporters, vowing “retribution” against perceived political enemies and embracing increasingly dystopian rhetoric.
Trump became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime in May, in New York, and still faces U.S. and Georgia state charges over efforts to subvert the 2020 election. He was also the first president to be impeached twice.
Separate allegations of illegally keeping classified documents after leaving office were dismissed by a federal judge, but prosecutors have appealed. He denies any wrongdoing.
The remaining cases are unlikely to reach trial before the November election, while a New York judge delayed the sentencing for Trump’s conviction over falsifying documents to cover up a payment.
Trump debated Harris in September, after which several polls showed voters thought the vice president outperformed him.
Among voters who said they had heard at least something about the debate, 53% said Harris won and 24% said Trump won, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Trump has said he will not debate Harris again.
Trump, who chose U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate, has refused to commit to accepting the 2024 election results or to rule out possible political violence, and he is laying the groundwork to contest a potential election loss. He has also threatened to prosecute election officials, donors and others if he is elected again.
Trump is the oldest U.S. presidential nominee and would be the nation’s second oldest president if he wins in November, following Biden, who will be 82 when his term ends next January.
Trump has vowed to pardon supporters imprisoned for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, calling them “warriors.” He would also seek the power to replace federal civil service workers with loyalists.
A consortium of Trump-friendly think tanks touts a sweeping policy agenda known as “Project 2025” targeting diversity programs and the Justice Department’s independence, among other plans. Trump has sought to distance himself from the project despite the involvement of many former aides.
On foreign policy, Trump has vowed to fundamentally alter the U.S. relationship with NATO and to resolve the Ukraine war with possible peace talks that might require Kyiv to cede territory.
Trump has made immigration a top domestic campaign issue, promising mass deportations, an end to birthright citizenship and an expanded travel ban on people from certain countries, among other actions.
On abortion, he takes credit for the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, and says laws regulating abortion should be left to states. Trump said he does not support banning birth control.
He has also vowed to undo much of the Biden administration’s work to fight climate change. Trump has faced criticism, including from fellow Republicans, for personal attacks against Harris, including over her race.
Trump appointed former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to his transition team after Kennedy suspended his independent bid for the presidency.
He vowed to put billionaire Elon Musk, who has endorsed him, in charge of a government efficiency panel. The National Fraternal Order of Police and several other police groups have also backed his election bid.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
KAMALA HARRIS
Harris, 59, won the Democratic Party’s nomination after Biden ended his reelection bid, allowing Democrats to present a different American vision in contrast to Trump’s agenda as they kicked off their convention and sought to revive their coalition of young voters, people of color and suburban women.
Biden’s exit and endorsement of Harris followed weeks of party upheaval after his weak performance in the June 27 debate with Trump.
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. She would become the first woman to serve as president in the nation’s 248-year history if she wins.
Polls show Harris is in a close race against Trump. She leads the former president nationally 47% to 42%, according to a September Reuters/Ipsos poll that took place after the debate but before the apparent assassination attempt later in the month.
Recent surveys also show Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, have gained ground in several battleground states and over issues such as crime and the economy.
In the seven battleground states that could decide the election – Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan and Nevada – Trump had a 45% to 43% lead over Harris among registered voters in an August Reuters/Ipsos survey.
Harris is expected to stick largely to Biden’s foreign policy playbook on key issues such as Ukraine, China and Iran. She has also pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a Gaza ceasefire deal but has also taken a hard line against Hamas, saying the militant group must be “eliminated”, and remains committed to the 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 says is “price gouging” by grocers, build more affordable housing and introduce a new child tax credit.
She has also proposed increasing the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%. Her climate and energy positions are also similar to those held by Biden, who has made fighting climate change a top priority.
Harris has been seen as tech-friendly even as she took on alleged anticompetitive and privacy issues, and she has sought to reassure donors that she backs capitalism.
The leaders of key labor groups, including the Service Employees International Union, the United Auto Workers and the American Federation of Teachers, have endorsed her presidential bid. Former U.S. military officials and company executives also publicly backed her.
INDEPENDENTS
CORNEL WEST
The political activist, philosopher and academic is making a third-party bid for president that aimed at appealing to more progressive, Democratic-leaning voters.
West, 71, initially ran as a Green Party candidate but in October said people “want good policies over partisan politics” and declared himself an independent. He has promised to end poverty and guarantee housing.
GREEN PARTY
JILL STEIN
Stein, 74, a physician who ran under the Green Party in 2016, is trying once again in 2024.
She launched her current campaign accusing Democrats of betraying their promises “for working people, youth and the climate again and again – while Republicans don’t even make such promises in the first place.”
LIBERTARIAN PARTY
CHASE OLIVER
While the Libertarian Party invited both Trump and Kennedy to speak at its convention in late May, it ultimately selected Oliver, 39. Oliver ran for a Georgia state Senate seat in 2022 and garnered 2% of the vote.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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