United States presidential election 2024 (Pence, Buttigieg)

The 2024 United States presidential election took place on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. It will be the 60th quadrennial presidential election. Voters selected presidential electors who voted on December 14, 2024,[2] to select a new president and vice president. The election will occur simultaneously alongside elections for the House of Representatives, Senate, and various state and local-level elections.

Incumbent President Donald Trump couldn't seek another term due to the 22nd amendment. This left the Republican nomination open for contestants. Incumbent Vice President Mike Pence was seen as the early frontrunner and he maintained that lead defeating Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Pence got enough delegates to win the Republican nomination on June 12th, 2024. Two weeks later, Pence selected Presidential Advisor Nikki Haley as his running mate.

Following Biden's defeat in 2020, the Democratic Party was largely without a leader. There were 27 contenders for the nomination. Early frontrunners included New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, California Senator and Biden's running mate in 2020 Kamala Harris, New York Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Indiana Representative Pete Buttigieg. Despite Buttigieg winning the Iowa Caucuses, by April Kamala Harris seemed as if she would become the Democratic Nominee. However, by June, Buttigieg caught up and the race was close all the way until the Democratic National Convention. Andrew Cuomo's endorsement of Buttigieg which came a week before the convention helped him secure enough delegates to win the nomination. Buttigieg in term selected Cuomo to be his running mate.

After a divided primary season, the Libertarian party selected Adam Kokesh for the presidency. The Green Party nominated Dario Hunter.

Despite a strong economic recovery and growth, in 2024 Trump's approval ratings were only around 47% due to constant corruption scandals surrounding his administration. Additionally, in April 2024 Trump signed an executive order to use the police force to suppress a protest for Hispanic language rights in Boston. Violence erupted as the police attacked the protesters and seven people were killed. The event came to be known as the Boston Massacre.

During the campaign, Pence emphasized a strong economy while Buttigieg criticized the Trump administration for corruption and advocated for human rights and racial diversity, as well as acceptance of Spanish as a national language.

The polls were dead even until on October 12th, 2024, four policemen attacked a group of Latinos and African Americans killing eight people. The event led to a huge movement for Hispanic and African-American rights which championed Buttigieg for the presidency.

On election day, Buttigieg won 336 electoral votes and 51.1% of the popular vote. Pence finished second with 202 electoral votes and 45.3% of the popular vote. Adam Kokesh finished in third with 3.1% of the popular vote. Dario Hunter finished in fourth with 0.5% of the popular vote. Buttigieg became the first openly homosexual man to become president of the United States. He also became the youngest president of the United States since John F. Kennedy.