Who is running for president in 2024?
2024 will be here before we know it, and a crowded presidential field is already taking shape. Here is a list of candidates on both sides of the aisle, though expect to see more names crop up (and drop off) as the race progresses:
Joe Biden (D)
President Biden formally announced his re-election campaign on April 25, exactly four years to the day after he first declared his candidacy in 2019. "Freedom. Personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans. There's nothing more important. Nothing more sacred," the president said at the start of a three-minute launch video. "Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take down those bedrock freedoms." This is "not a time to be complacent," he continued, "and that's why I'm running for re-election." Should the president succeed in reclaiming the White House, he will be 86 at the end of his second term.
Donald Trump (R)
Months before his legal fortunes took a turn for the worse, former President Donald Trump stood before an adoring crowd at his Mar-a-Lago estate and made his third consecutive run for president official. "For millions of Americans, the past two years under Joe Biden have been a time of pain, hardship, anxiety, and despair," he told the room full of Republican aides and heavyweights. "In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States. "Now, even with his historic indictment (and another one likely on the horizon), the former president has managed to maintain a comfortable lead over all of his opponents, including the Florida governor once believed to hold the ticket to his downfall.
Doug Burgum (R)
Doug Burgum, the billionaire governor of North Dakota, knows he isn't the most well-known candidate of the GOP bunch — but that's not going to stop him from trying. "If you want more small-town common sense in Washington and our big cities, we'll make that happen," he told supporters at a rally in Fargo. "We need the governor and business leader who understands this changing economy. I want to earn your vote." As the leader of North Dakota, Burgum has signed into law a near-total abortion ban and implemented restrictions on gender-affirming care, but is reportedly planning to focus less on social issues and more on economic and energy policy in his run for president.
Chris Christie (R)
After a few years on the political sidelines, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie has returned to spearhead yet another 2024 presidential run, this time positioning himself as Trump's "main antagonist," wrote CBS News. "Let me be clear, in case I have not been already," Christie told supporters at a town hall-style event. "The person I am talking about — who is obsessed with the mirror, … who always finds someone else and something else to blame for whatever goes wrong, but finds every reason to take credit for anything that goes right — is Donald Trump." Christie was infamously mired in a few scandals of his own while in office, though, so we'll see if that controversy catches up to him on the campaign trail.
Larry Elder (R)
His moonshot at the California governorship may not have gone as planned, but Larry Elder, a conservative talk radio host, has decided to give the whole election thing another try. "America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable," he wrote on Twitter on April 20. "We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader who can bring us there. That's why I'm running for president."
Ron DeSantis (R)
After weeks of rabid speculation, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis entered the 2024 presidential race on May 24, announcing his bid in conversation with Twitter owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. "American decline is not inevitable, it is a choice. And we should choose a new direction — a path that will lead to American revitalization," DeSantis said of his decision. "I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback." In the early days of his presumed candidacy, DeSantis was hailed as a potential Trump slayer who could appeal to electorally-vital swaths of anti-MAGA independent and GOP voters. But that was months ago. Though he remains Trump's rival in chief, he has since lost some of the mojo (and post-midterm momentum) that made him so formidable in the first place.
Nikki Haley (R)
Former South Carolina governor and ex-Trump administration official Nikki Haley tossed her hat into the ring on Feb. 14, after claiming she wouldn't run in the upcoming election cycle should Trump decide to do the same. "Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change," Haley said in a roughly three-minute launch video. "Joe Biden's record is abysmal, but that shouldn't come as a surprise. The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again," she continued, highlighting her work as governor while echoing a familiar (and potentially loaded) refrain: "It's time for a new generation of leadership."
Asa Hutchinson (R)
Asa Hutchinson, the former Republican governor of Arkansas, is hoping to win over a more moderate swath of anti-Trump GOP voters, and has even urged the former president to drop out of the race over his "disqualifying" federal indictment." "[T]hese are serious charges," Hutchinson told ABC's "This Week," "and we don't need a commander in chief that disregards our secrets." As a candidate, the former governor has "robust conservative credentials," but has "occasionally departed from party orthodoxy," said The Week's Joel Mathis, citing Hutchinson's veto of legislation that would block transgender children from receiving gender-affirming care as one example of his political ethos.
Will Hurd (R)
Will Hurd, a former congressman from Texas, announced his bid for the Republican nomination for president with a message for the GOP frontrunner: "If we nominate a lawless, selfish, failed politician like Donald Trump, who lost the House, the Senate and the White House, we all know Joe Biden will win again," he said in an opening video message on June 22. "I'll give us the common-sense leadership America so desperately needs." While working on Capitol Hill, Hurd had a reputation for bipartisanship and at times bucking Trump, per The New York Times. Before entering politics, he worked as an undercover CIA officer.
Mike Pence (R)
To no one's surprise, former Vice President Mike Pence announced his expected bid for the White House on June 7, arguing Trump should "never" again be president after behaving so poorly in the aftermath of 2020. "The American people deserve to know, on that day, President Trump also demanded I choose between him and the Constitution," Pence told his supporters, alluding to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and Trump's false claim that the vice president could overturn the election. "Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution, and I always will." Note: Most political analysts believe the former Indiana governor has little to no shot of winning the nomination.
Vivek Ramaswamy (R)
An entrepreneur and the author of "Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam", Vivek Ramaswamy has dedicated much of his brain power over the years to debunking "wokeness," which he believes is corrupting traditional American values and weakening our society. "We've celebrated our 'diversity' so much that we forgot all the ways we're really the same as Americans, bound by ideals that united a divided, headstrong group of people 250 years ago," Ramaswamy tweeted alongside his launch video on Feb. 21. "I believe deep in my bones those ideals still exist. I'm running for president to revive them." Anything can happen, of course, but it's worth noting that Ramaswamy's bid is considered quite a long shot.
Tim Scott (R)
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott officially debuted his presidential bid on May 22, weeks after announcing the launch of an exploratory committee. "From the time the sun goes down until the sun comes up, Joe Biden and the radical left are attacking every single rung of the ladder that helped me climb. And that's why I'm announcing today that I am running for president of the United States of America," he said at an event at Charleston Southern University. Already, the lawmaker boasts backing from GOP heavyweight Sen. John Thune (S.D.), but he lacks the same degree of national name recognition as other candidates.
Corey Stapleton (R)
Little-known former Montana Secretary of State (and country artist) Corey Stapleton announced his bid for the GOP nomination on Nov. 11, 2022. "We're failing our children and grandchildren by racking up massive national debt, stealing part of their future. Our kids deserve the freedom and prosperity that we older Americans inherited. The buck stops here," he said in a press release. Prior to his presidential bid, for which he plans to run a grassroots campaign, Stapleton served in the Montana state senate from 2001 to 2009 and as Montana Secretary of State from 2017 to 2021. He also served in the U.S. Navy from 1986 to 1997.
Francis Suarez (R)
In a field "full of long-shot candidates," the recently-declared Miami Mayor Francis Suarez may be "the longest shot of all," said The Associated Press. Indeed, no sitting mayor has ever successfully captured the presidency, and Suarez, who was first elected in 2017, isn't expected to fare any differently. "I believe America is still a shining city on a hill whose eyes of the world are upon us and whose promise needs to be restored," he said. "And I believe the city needs more than a shouter or a fighter. I believe it needs a servant. It needs a mayor. My name is Francis Suarez, and I am here to help."
Marianne Williamson (D)
Love or hate her, Marianne Williamson is back. Following an unsuccessful White House attempt in 2020, which saw her drop out of the race almost a full year before Election Day, the self-help author launched a challenge against Biden roughly a month before the president had even made clear his own plans. "We all owe President Biden a debt of gratitude for defeating President Trump in 2020, but with the things that they're going to be throwing at us in 2024, we need to submit to the American people an agenda of fundamental economic reform, universal health care, ... and a guaranteed living wage," among other initiatives, Williamson said in a March 4 announcement video. Like several other candidates, Williamson's chances of winning the nomination are believed low.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (D)
An environmental lawyer as well as the son of late U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy — yes, that one — RFK Jr. is perhaps best known for his support of anti-vaccine rhetoric, beliefs that have been vehemently denounced by his own family. His mission "throughout my presidency will be to end the corrupt merger of state and corporate power that is threatening now … to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism in our country; to commoditize our children, our purple mountain's majesty; to poison our children and our people with chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs; to strip-mine our assets; to hollow out the middle class and keep us in a constant state of war," he said when announcing his candidacy on April 19. It's also unlikely this legacy candidate snags the nomination, though he was doing decently well in the polls for a minute there.
Cornel West (G)
Philosopher, scholar and activist Cornel West could play spoiler to Biden's reelection bid now that he's announced a run for president alongside the Green Party. "I enter for the quest for truth. I enter for the quest of justice," he said in his initial announcement, which originally saw him declare with the People's Party. "And the presidency is just one vehicle we pursue that truth and justice."
Updated July 31, 2023: This article has been updated throughout.
