Meet the Candidates

Background / Intro: On November 5th over 100 million voters will head to the polls and cast their votes for many crucial offices including for President of the United States. The race for president is between two main candidates, current Vice President Kamala Harris being the Democratic nominee and Former President Donald Trump being the Republican nominee. This has been a unique election cycle as the incumbent president, Joe Biden decided not to seek reelection after initially stating he would seek reelection. This led to Kamala Harris being selected by delegates at the Democratic National Convention to be the Democratic nominee.

The Candidates:

Kamala Harris: Kamala Harris is the current Vice President of the United States and the Democratic nominee for president. Harris grew up in Oakland, California as the daughter of Donald J. Harris and Shyamala Gopalan. Harris’s father was an economics doctoral student from Jamaica while her mother was an Indian immigrant who was studying nutrition and endocrinology. Both Mr. Harris and Ms. Gopalan were key figures in the civil rights movement on the UC Berkeley campus.

 In 1964 when Kamala Harris was born her parents continued fighting for what they believed in and let a young Kamala also be involved. Per Harris’s campaign website, “As the daughter of parents who brought her to civil rights marches in a stroller, she was inspired to tackle injustice from an early age.” Following a childhood filled with civil rights advocacy, Kamala Harris went on to attend Howard University, a historically Black college. During her time at Howard, she was elected to the student council, was on the debate team, and was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha. Following graduating from Howard, Harris went on to attend Hastings College (now known as the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco) and ended up earning her law degree in 1989. 

After law school, Harris started her career as a deputy district attorney. During Harris’s time as deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California, she built a reputation as a tough prosecutor, frequently prosecuting cases involving: sexual abuse, drug issues, and gang violence. In 2002, Harris ran for District Attorney of San Francisco, winning with 56% of the vote. In this role, she continued to fight for cases involving sexual abuse, drug issues, and gang violence. While many champion Harris’s time as District Attorney, her time is not without controversy. At the end of her tenure in San Fransisco Harris went on record in support of the 2008 San Francisco policy that reported arrested undocumented juveniles to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), according to research from CNN.

 In 2010 Harris rose to national prominence after winning the 2010 election for Attorney General of California. Harris became the first woman and the first Black American to hold this post. During her stint as Attorney General, Harris fought for issues such as: ensuring LGBT rights, creating increased environmental protection measures and helping overturn wrongful convictions. Notably, Harris refused to defend Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage. Harris would help and advocate for Proposition 8 to be overturned in 2013.

In 2016 Harris successfully ran for an open senate seat in California. Throughout Harris’s senate tenure, she was an advocate for environmental and climate protection, co-sponsoring The Green New Deal, which was a proposal that would call upon public policy to help mitigate climate change as well as providing job creation and economic growth. In 2020 while she was still a senator, Harris launched a presidential bid. While at the beginning of the campaign, Harris was considered a front-runner she ended up dropping out due to low poll support and some primary voters being put off by positions she had such as decreasing police funding. After exiting the 2020 race, Harris did not immediately endorse a candidate after she dropped out. Later, Harris would end up endorsing Joe Biden and was selected as the nominee for Vice President. Harris was elected to the vice presidency when Joe Biden and she beat Donald Trump in the 2020 election. 

Throughout her time as Vice President, she was tasked with addressing key issues such as the US-Mexico border. Through much of her tenure before becoming the Democratic nominee she had poor approval ratings as voters were upset with the handling of the southern border and the economy. On July 21st when Joe Biden dropped out Harris was endorsed to become the Democratic nominee for president. Harris was formally nominated during a virtual roll call on August 2, 2024. Harris would go on to campaign on securing reproductive rights for women and to continue the policies of the Biden-Harris administration. 

Donald Trump: Donald Trump was the 45th president of the United States and the current Republican nominee for president. Trump grew up as the son of Fred Trump and Mary MacLeod. Fred Trump was a successful real estate developer in Queens and Brooklyn in New York City. Trump’s passion for real estate later inspired his son to follow in his footsteps. Donald Trump attended Fordham University in the Bronx and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance and Commerce. He graduated in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in economics. Following graduation, Trump would go on to work for The Trump Organization which was a collective of assets that both Fred and Donald had purchased. 

While originally Fred Trump focused on building apartments that met qualifications for FHA (Federal Housing Administration) low-income housing, Donald Trump began to pursue luxury hotels and residential properties in Atlantic City. These luxury properties are how Trump amassed much of his wealth. In 1976 Trump purchased his first New York City Hotel, The Commodore. The Commodore was located right near Grand Central Station. The purchase also included substantial tax breaks. In 1983 Trump went on to open one of, if not his most iconic property, Trump Tower. Trump Tower was an office, retail, and residential complex constructed in partnership with the Equitable Life Assurance Company. Trump Tower would end up becoming his main headquarters. Trump would continue to go on and buy more New York City properties as well as casinos in Atlantic City.

During the recession of 1990, Trump greatly suffered as many of his assets had lost value. This recession led to Trump’s net worth dropping from $1.7 billion to $900 million. Even with this large loss of assets and financial woes, Trump was able to come back a few years later stronger than ever. Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank was willing to give vast loans to Trump leading to him being able to build several projects that were in development.

In the early and mid-2000s, Trump enjoyed massive financial gains from the success of his reality TV show, The Apprentice. According to Mark Burnett, The executive producer of The Apprentice the show was “an unscripted drama in which 16 candidates from all walks of life, including both Ivy League MBA graduates and street entrepreneurs with no college education, will endure rigorous tasks each week while living together in a hip Manhattan loft apartment… The big twist is that our teams are thrown out to the wolves of the New York business world with only a few days to complete incredibly difficult tasks, many of which have hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake. The winner of the competition, the true ‘apprentice’ will be granted the dream job of a lifetime with The Trump Organization and a salary of $250,000.” 

Following all of his business endeavors, in June 2015 Trump announced that he would be a candidate for the Republican nomination in 2016. Trump marketed himself as a “Washington outsider” and pledged to “Make America Great Again (MAGA).” During the primaries, Trump was a polarizing figure with many traditional Republicans refusing to support Trump. Trump was called out for many vulgar and offensive things he had said in the past. Even with many traditional Republicans refusing to support him Trump received massive support from blue-collar and non-college-educated voters leading to Trump securing the nomination. In the 2016 election, Trump shocked everyone by beating Former First Lady Hillary Clinton.

While in office Trump pushed for large immigration reforms, new tariffs, and improving the strength of the US military. While many Democrats viewed Trump and his policies as extreme, Trump had a loyal following of supporters who would back anything he said or did. This loyal following would support Trump all through his 2020 reelection bid. Trump was running against Joe Biden for the 2020 presidency. Biden frequently attacked the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and labeled Trump as a threat to democracy. Trump went on to lose the 2020 election. However, he refused to concede to Biden, claiming that “the election was rigged.” On January 6th, 2020 a group of Trump supporters stormed the capital following a speech from Trump in an attempt to overturn the election. While Trump did post on Twitter calling for his supporters to stop, many felt he hadn’t done enough.

In 2022, Trump announced he would be running again for President of the United States. In the primaries, Trump faced some opposition from moderate Republicans who were in fear of a second Trump presidency. Nikki Haley put up a fight against Trump in the primaries however Republican voters overwhelmingly voted to make Donald Trump the 2024 nominee. Just days before Trump would be formally nominated at the convention, On July 13th 2024, an armed gunman attempted to take the life of Trump. Trump survived and while he called for unity for a few days he soon went back to his extreme rhetoric. On September 15th, 2024, there was another attempt on Trump’s life. While Trump was playing a round of golf, an armed man was hiding in the shrubbery trying to find Trump. Fortunately, the Secret Service was able to spot the shooter before he reached Trump. 

As of now the election is a toss-up and anyone could win. Who do you want to be president? VOTE HERE!