New Delhi: As Americans head to the polling stations Tuesday, the 2024 presidential election campaign established itself as markedly different from other years, especially due to the use of surrogates by both candidates—Kamala Harris and Donald J. Trump.
A norm-breaking election season in the US witnessed the incumbent President Joseph R. Biden Jr.—who had won the primaries—drop out just 107 days before 5 November and endorse his vice president Harris.
The current vice president had to rejig the Biden-Harris campaign, pick a running mate as well as consolidate her hold of the Democratic Party to receive its confirmation as its candidate. While Harris was able to manage all of this, she also had the other job of convincing Americans that she is a viable candidate for the presidency, with aid from a range of star campaigners, from the Obamas to the Clintons and a number of former Republican leaders.
With artists, billionaires, Democratic party leaders and former members of previous Republican administrations, the list of Harris’ campaign surrogates—or star campaigners in Indian terms—was large.
In comparison, former President Trump, who has been running for the 2024 elections since November 2022, relied on himself and a smaller list of surrogates, which included the world’s richest individual Elon Musk and billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.
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Musk vs Obama: Battle of the surrogates
In the closing days of the campaign, both Musk and former President Barack Obama were seen hitting the campaign trail, for Trump and Harris respectively.
Musk, owner of social media platform X, turned his accounts into a loudspeaker for the Trump campaign, going so far as to offer $1 million to randomly selected voters, if they signed his petition on gun rights and free speech.
The voters, of course, would have to be registered in one of the seven battleground states—Nevada, North Carolina, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania. These are the key states required for a majority in the electoral college in the closely contested election.
Musk also donated close to $120 million to the America PAC—his super political action committee (PAC)—in a bid to get out a number of voters in favour of Trump, as reported by The New York Times.
In the states of Arizona, Georgia and Michigan, more than one million homes have been canvassed by members of the America PAC, while nearly 7,50,000 doors have been knocked on by volunteers in Wisconsin, according to the American newspaper.
If Musk’s use of social media and his super PAC to aid Trump is different from previous years, the Harris—formerly Biden—campaign was able to raise funds worth nearly $1 billion between January 2023 and October 2024— about three times the amount raised by the Republican candidate in the same time period. Harris and her affiliated groups cumulatively raised $1 billion between July and October this year itself.
The Republican presidential candidate also relied heavily on his vice presidential pick J.D. Vance amongst other surrogates, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to appear at events in his favour.
The incumbent vice president’s funding haul, reported to be the largest in a single quarter, has allowed Harris to spend larger amounts of time campaigning for the elections, while Trump has had to focus on fund-raisers alongside his campaigns.
However, Harris and her vice presidential pick Tim Walz, the Minnesotan governor, have not been alone in their campaign. Obama, the former US president, remains immensely popular amongst the Democratic faithful, who began campaign appearances in October, before joining Harris on the campaign trail in the last weeks of October.
Former first lady Michelle Obama also joined Harris in Michigan, before campaigning in Georgia and Texas with Bruce Springsteen and Beyoncé. Pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Harris in September, a day after the only debate between the two candidates, adding heft to the vice president’s campaign.
Springsteen, the American musical legend, had previously come out against Trump for using his song “Born in the U.S.A” at campaign events in 2016. Beyoncé’s song “Freedom” has been used by Harris at campaign events and advertisements, with the artist’s permission.
Candidates engage former opposition party members
Former secretary of state and first lady Hillary Clinton closed out the campaign season, stumping for Harris in Florida, while her husband and former president William (Bill) J. Clinton III turned up on the campaign trail for the incumbent vice president across the battleground states, hitting Georgia a few days before the polls.
Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont, who ran to be the nominee of the Democratic Party in 2016 and 2020, has also been acting as a surrogate for Harris, courting the blue-collar voters in Pennsylvania.
Former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney and her father Richard (Dick) Cheney, the ex-Republican vice president, both endorsed Harris. Liz even appeared at campaign events with Harris.
If Harris has touted her Republican endorsements and surrogates, Trump has had his own set of former Democratic members supporting him through this election cycle. Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic Congresswoman from Hawaii, has held a number of events in favour of the former president.
Additionally, Trump also had a number of women Republican leaders, including Representative Elise Stefanik, Governor of Arkansas Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Senator Katie Britt campaign in his favour, as a way to broaden his appeal amongst women voters.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)