You might still be recovering from the flurry of political ads in the 2022 midterms, but prepare for more advertising that may start about a year from now because of the 2024 elections!...so get your several months of rest before then.

In American politics, people are always waiting for the next election. In this case, both the Republican and Democratic parties want to take back/keep the White House and govern for 4 years between 2025 and 2029. And although it’s only 2023, both parties are gearing up for what might be an insane primary season followed by an intense presidential campaign, not to mention the concurrent Senate and House of Representatives elections too.

So far, we have no definitive answer on how the actual election will turn out. But we do have some ideas. Former President Donald Trump is trying to become the second commander-in-chief to serve two non-consecutive terms in office after Grover Cleveland. (Orr et al. 2022) Announcing the campaign at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on November 15, 2022, Trump has been blamed for Republicans’ lackluster performance in the 2022 midterms (many candidates he endorsed in the Republican primaries ended up losing the general election), and, concurrently, calls have been made for another candidate to be the Republican nominee in 2024. There are challengers to Trump; the first major one was Nikki Haley, who announced her campaign on February 15, 2023. She is the former governor of South Carolina and US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump. (Kinnard 2023) Another presidential contender from the GOP is Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and political commentator from Ohio, declared his bid as well, promising “the unapologetic pursuit of excellence.” Haley would be the first female president in American history, and she or Ramaswamy would be the first Indian-American and Asian-American presidents. (Rokus et al. 2023) There is also former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson (Wiersema 2023), right-wing political commentator Larry Elder (Garrity 2023), South Carolina senator Tim Scott (Allison 2023), former Vice President Mike Pence (Breuninger 2023), former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (Breuninger 2023), North Dakota governor Doug Bergum (Burgum 2023), and Miami mayor Francis Suarez (Mazzei 2023) vying for the presidency. However, many Republicans believe that their party’s nominee should be Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who recently announced his bid for the presidency through Twitter (Dixon and Gomez 2023). DeSantis was originally elected as Governor of Florida by less than 1% of the vote in 2018, but was re-elected last November by over 19%, shattering the state’s reputation as a “swing state” (a state that can go either Republican or Democratic and is very competitive electorally). (Vakil 2023)

So, why DeSantis? DeSantis has been widely praised in his party for “keeping Florida free” during the COVID-19 Pandemic by not imposing strict rules like other states did. He opposed “woke” culture in schools by passing legislation banning it while “empowering parents” to express their “educational freedom” for their children; all things Republicans admire. DeSantis has also been praised for economic improvements in Florida, declining unemployment, a speedy recovery from 2022’s Hurricane Ian, increasing funding for public schools, improving the state’s infrastructure, etc. (Ron DeSantis Gubernatorial Staff 2023) However, DeSantis doesn’t go criticism-free. He has been accused by Democrats of having authoritarian tendencies, being a “superfan” of Donald Trump (or at least formerly), banning sanctuary cities (cities that let illegal/undocumented immigrants within their cities boundaries without the worry of being arrested by the government), being soft on the COVID-19 Pandemic, etc. Zoning in on the “authoritarian tendencies” part, Democrats have harshly criticized and accused DeSantis for pushing against transgender acceptance by banning transgender girls in women’s sports (this is a very contentious nationwide issue), flying illegal/undocumented immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, (Prokop 2023) banning “wokeness” in Florida school books, banning an AP African-American history class, etc. (Corn et al. 2023) DeSantis’ administration has backed these measures up, citing the immigration crisis and the supposed dangers of “wokeness” in the classroom. 

So far, Trump has been taking aim at DeSantis. This shows that DeSantis might be a big threat to Trump. And according to a January 2023 poll, DeSantis is defeating President Biden by 3 points, while the same poll shows Trump losing by 8 points. This is also despite DeSantis having less name recognition than both. (Caputo 2023) Before his announcement, DeSantis made statements and went on trips that made it look like he was in the election, although at the time he wasn’t. In a pre-campaign interview with conservative commentator Piers Morgan, DeSantis highlighted how Biden “failed this country,” and when he was questioned on if he could become the 47th president by defeating the 46th, the Florida governor replied, “I think so.” DeSantis also mocked Trump's nicknames for him, such as “Ron DeSanctimonious,” saying, “I don’t know how to spell the sanctimonious one… I don’t really know what it means, but I kinda like it, it’s long, it’s got a lot of vowels. We’ll go with that, that’s fine. I mean you can call me whatever you want, just as long as you also call me a winner because that’s what we’ve been able to do in Florida, is put a lot of points on the board and really take this State to the next level.” (Greenwood 2023)

Although DeSantis previously spiked in the Republican primary polls, he has since lost that momentum, somewhat because of Trump’s indictment of campaign finance fraud due to a 2016 incident by the Manhattan district attorney, and Trump is in the lead. Multiple polls, including a recent Harvard one, suggest Trump has support of 50% of Republicans, while DeSantis has only 24%, with others getting the rest. (Centers for American Political Studies at Harvard University et al. 2023)

The Democratic presidential primary is a lot less crowded and newsworthy than the Republican primary, yet still, is something notable. Whenever a president runs for reelection, their party typically throws their full support at them, and they easily secure the nomination. Whether or not 2024 will break that tradition is unknown at this time. There are three Democrats who have declared their bid for the presidency so far. The first one is self-help author and spiritual advisor Marianne Williamson. Williamson first ran in the Democratic presidential primary in 2020, but she dropped out before the Iowa caucus (which is the first presidential primary contest in the cycle). One concern raised by Williamson supporters is Biden’s age. The president is currently 80 years old--the oldest president in US history--and would be 86 years old at the end of a second term. (Associated Press/Voice of America 2023) Despite this, Biden announced his bid for reelection on April 25, promising to “finish the job,” which is basically continuing what he’s doing now. This has rallied Democrats but enraged Republicans, believing that Biden has been failing America. (Cadelago and Lemire 2023) Another candidate is anti-vaccine advocate and environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is also the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. (Garrity 2023) A poll by USA Today and Suffolk University shows Biden leeding the trio of candidates, with 67% support from Democrats, while Kennedy has 14% and Williamson has 5%. Another 13% aren’t sure who they will support. (Goddard 2023)

The election is heating up, and more candidates might jump in the race. There is still much yet to be determined. Do some more research on your own, and make sure you’re getting opinions from unbiased sources. Plus, seek out opinions on both sides of the political aisle.